It's A Boy Girl Thing
by BecomingScarlett
Summary: Based off the movie with the same name, an ancient curse is awakened and cast upon Elena and Damon. The results cause them to switch bodies, waking the next day in the body of not only the opposite sex, but the last person they ever wanted to switch bodies with. A hilarious battle of the sexes ensues, but eventually they wonder if they'll ever get their own body back. ALL HUMAN D/E
1. Chapter 1 The Switch

Author Note: This story is based off the movie with the same title, It's a Boy Girl Thing, and the main ideas are taken from that movie. The characters and places are all from Vampire Diaries. I don't own anything. I just thought this would be a fun story(: In this story, Damon and Stefan are not vampires; there are no vampires. Stefan and Damon are step-brothers and both seniors at Mystic Falls High, along with Elena. I changed some of the characters ages/roles. I hope you like. Let me know what you think!

-BecomingScarlett

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 1. The Switch**

On a Monday night at nine, Elena Gilbert can usually be found studying or doing homework in her bedroom. This Monday night is just like any other, so she is doing just that; studying for her AP English Literature class. They are currently reading Jane Eyre, which Elena has read before, and a test will be coming up soon. She is re-reading the most important parts so they are fresh on her mind for discussion in class tomorrow.

"...'Gentle Reader, may you never feel what I then felt? May your eyes never shed such stormy, scalding, heart-wrung tears as poured from mine. May you never appeal to Heaven in prayers so hopeless and so agonized as in that hour left my lips; for never may you, like me, dread to be the instrument of evil to what you wholly love'..." Just as Elena is getting into the mind of Jane, an obnoxious noise from the home of her neighbor becomes impossible to ignore.

Ugh. Damon Salvatore. Some song Elena hasn't heard since middle school is now blaring through the speakers from his too-close bedroom into hers. She sighs, trying to pretend it doesn't bother her that he does this almost _every_ night after he gets out of the shower, interrupting her study session with his obscene music. Why did she have to be stuck with him as her neighbor? Why?

_**'I like big butts and I can not lie. You other brothers can't deny when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face, you get sprung. Wanna pull out your tough, 'cause you notice that butt was...'**_

As if it wasn't already annoying enough without it, Damon has to start singing along, "...stuffed deep in the jeans she's wearing. I'm hooked, and I can't stop staring! Oh baby, I wanna get with you, and take your picture..."

Elena rolls her eyes and gets up from her bed, stalking over to her gorgeous bay window, with the hideous view of Damon's bedroom. He's currently dancing around in his towel, raven hair dripping wet still from his shower. Elena waves her hands, trying to catch his attention, "Hey!"

He doesn't see her, and continues to sing, "My homeboys tried to warn me, but that butt you got makes me so horny! Ooh, Rump-o'-smooth-skin, you say you wanna get in my Benz? Well use me, use me, 'cause you ain't that average groupie."

Elena pulls her window open and yells, "Hey! Damon! You idiot, **hey!** Do you mind?!"

Damon finally looks over, still dancing, bright blue eyes glinting mischievously as he catches his neighbor staring in through his bedroom window. He cups his hand over his ear and mouths, 'What? I can't hear you...'

Elena huffs and shouts, "Turn down that crap! I'm trying to study! I can't hear anything over this noise!"

Damon picks up the remote to his stereo and turns it down one notch. He tucks his towel around his waist, opens his window, and leans out. "Noise? That's Sir Mix-a-Lot. Everybody likes this song."

"Well not me," Elena disagrees, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Damon. She doesn't _hate_ the song, and she does think it's mildly amusing that Damon is dancing around half-naked like a child. It almost reminds her of when they were young and they still...tolerated each other. They were never _friends_, but they also didn't loathe each other like they do now. Which is why she wouldn't admit to him that she doesn't mind the song, just the volume, and the fact that she's trying to study and it's making it really hard. It's better to just disagree with him, like usual.

"'Well not me-e'," Damon imitates haughtily, crossing his arms over his bare chest to mimic her stance. "You're such a goody two shoes, Elena."

"Well you're a prick," Elena counters, "Can you just turn down the volume?"

"What do you say?" Damon asks in a teasing tone.

Elena sighs, "_Please_, turn it down."

"Fine..." Damon shrugs with a smile, "I'll turn it off...if you flash me."

"_**What?!**_" Elena exclaims furiously. "You're such a pig!"

"Aw, come on," Damon rolls his eyes, "It's not like I've never seen 'em before."

"You have not!" Elena stamps her foot angrily, even though Damon can't see it. He is so frustrating! Why does she even bother trying to communicate with such a cocky asshole? He is impossible! With one last seething glare, Elena slams her window shut.

Only one problem: the bottom of her button-up flannel pajama top was caught in the window frame, and when she turned away, it was ripped off her body. Elena gasps, fumbling to pull her top free from the window with no luck. She realizes Damon is laughing hysterically at this point and she screams indignantly and covers her breasts with her hands.

Damon leans out the window and yells, "I've seen 'em now!"

Elena grabs her fluffy fleece robe from the hook on her closed bedroom door and pulls it on with her back still turned towards the window. She ties it securely before turning back towards the window, where Damon is still laughing, but has at least lowered the volume on his stereo. Elena glares again at her annoying neighbor before pulling the curtain over the window, cutting off his free-pass into her bedroom. She returns to her bed, and Jane Eyre, and finishes her notes of the chapter.

Just another Monday night...

* * *

Tuesday morning starts like every other Tuesday morning. Elena wakes up promptly at six. She makes her bed, brushes her teeth, and takes a shower. At the time that she is getting out of the shower and choosing an outfit for the day, Damon is waking up to a good ole mornin' woody and reaching under his mattress for the wrinkled Playboy that will help him put Woody to rest. His step-mom knocks on the door half-way through, right on time, and asks if Damon is awake, to which he grunts out an, 'Oh yeah.' He finishes up with just enough time to throw on some clean jeans and a black tee and fix his bedhead hair. He meets his dad, step-mom Isobel, and step-brother Stefan down in the kitchen for breakfast. In the house next door, Elena is sitting down for oatmeal and fresh-squeezed orange juice with her mother, father, and younger brother Jeremy.

"Good morning, Elena," Miranda Gilbert greets her daughter.

"Good morning," Elena smiles pleasantly to her mom, then her dad, and finally Jeremy.

"Something came in the mail for you..." Grayson Gilbert announces while pushing an official envelope across the table to Elena.

Elena's brown eyes light up as she sees the Yale address stamped on the front. Yale is the college she's been wanting to go to since she was a little girl. Miranda and Grayson always told her if she put her mind to it, she could achieve anything, and Yale is the best of the best. Elena wants to be the best, for her parents. She peels open the envelope, chewing on her bottom lip nervously as she does. She pulls out the letter and unfolds it, scanning the words quickly.

"I...I have an interview!" She bursts excitedly, "In one month. But...I don't understand; I haven't applied for anything yet."

Miranda admits, "I sent out an early-acceptence application for you, Elena. I'm so happy for you that you got picked! This is everything you ever wanted."

"Congratulations, Elena," Grayson comments proudly.

"I haven't gotten in yet, Dad," Elena reminds him. She re-reads the letter from Yale disbelieving what her eyes are seeing. Can this really be happening? Oh, but it is.

"You've never disappointed us before," Miranda points out.

"Never has," Grayson agrees.

Next door, Damon doesn't have to worry about being the center of his parents' attention as he's chowing down. His dad and Isobel are too busy doting over Stefan, the Good Son. He's perfect in every way in their eyes. He gets good grades, has an interest in the family business, is willing to kiss Dad's ass to get what he wants...everything Damon refuses to do or be. If that means they're going to ignore him and act like he's a failure, that's their choosing. Stefan, of course, doesn't ignore Damon's existence because that would put an end to their two-year strong war. That's right, the step-brothers have been feuding since they were fifteen. That's not when Giuseppe and Isobel married, no, that was when the boys were ten. When they were fifteen, Damon's girlfriend Katherine cheated on him with Stefan, of all people. When Damon found out, he was heartbroken, but he hid his feelings behind anger, towards both Stefan and Katherine, but especially Stefan. They have been at constant war with each other since. Damon has long gotten over Katherine, but he'll probably never love someone like he did again.

Damon shovels the remaining bacon and eggs in his mouth just as his ears pick up the sound of his closest friend at Mystic Falls High driving up the road in his loud Mustang. _Thank God_, he thinks to himself. "Klaus is here," Damon announces, "Gotta go." He gets up from his seat and rinses off his plate in the sink, trying his best to ignore Stefan, who can't shut up when he'd like him to.

"How is Klaus, Damon?" Stefan asks sarcastically. "Still sucking at bass? You know, if you really want your band to go anywhere, you gotta ditch that flaming sack of shit. He stinks."

"Whatever Stefan," Damon sighs as he brushes past Stefan's chair, resisting the urge to punch him in the back of the head on his way out of the room. He steps into his sneakers, grabs his backpack from the floor by the front door, and runs out to the Mustang.

Damon sees Elena getting into her car with her brother Jeremy, who is a sophomore at Mystic Falls High, as he walks out to Klaus' Mustang. He smirks as he remembers her inadvertantly granting his request of showing him her tits. And they were actually a nice set of tits at that. Elena Gilbert...If only she weren't such a bitch. Well, and currently dating Stefan, although why should that stop him? It never stopped Stefan. Damon shakes his head and hops into the car beside Klaus Mikaelson.

"What's up my brother?" Klaus greets in a funny mix between a hood accent and his own English accent. The Mikaelson family moved to Virginia from England four years ago, and after a brief misunderstanding, Klaus and Damon grew to be very close friends. Klaus is funny, doesn't care what anyone thinks of him, and his band-mate. He has no complaints about him.

"Hey Klaus," Damon grins, "Not much, man." Damon turns up the volume on the stereo when he hears the song. "You and this Gangnam Style."

"I love PSY!" Klaus gushes.

"It's alright," Damon shrugs, "Ric hates this shit." Alaric, nicknamed Ric, is their third and final band-member. He graduated two years ago and works as a server at the local teen hang-out, Mystic Grill.

Klaus laughs, "I don't care what Ric thinks." Klaus turns up the music some more and speeds off down the road.

At the school, Elena circles the parking lot once, unable to find a good parking spot. Jeremy asks her to please just park somewhere, _anywhere_. But Elena doesn't want to park too far. It looks like it might rain today, and she hates getting caught in the rain. Exactly as she finds the perfect parking spot, a familiar red Mustang cuts her off and steals the spot!

"Oh no way! _Asshole!_" Elena curses loudly before speeding off to the next available spot. "I can't believe he stole my spot."

"It's okay, Elena," Jerema says, rolling his honest brown eyes. He can't wait to get out of the car so he can run off and meet up with his girlfriend Anna. He loves his sister, but she can be so overdramatic, and she such a perfectionist that if one little thing goes wrong she thinks everything is ruined. Jeremy is much more mellow. He'd never lose his cool over something as silly as idiots at school taking a parking spot from him. But that's just how Elena is. As soon as she turns off the car, he opens the passenger side door and leaps out, calling over his shoulder, "See you later, Lena!"

"Bye Jer!" Elena calls back, laughing at his eagerness to see Anna. She knows that's why he's in such a hurry. Him and his hormones. He and Anna have been doing it anywhere and everywhere since she gave Jeremy the green light over the summer. It's been Anna, Anna, Anna all the time since then. He did just turn sixteen; what should she expect? It's what sixteen year old boys like to do. Elena was like that too...when she was sixteen, but she's changed since. After Matt...she couldn't let anyone that close. She has been with Stefan for about a month now, but she's not letting his hand wander anywhere near the cookie jar anytime soon. She's just not ready, and he say he'll respect her wishes. She hopes what he says is true, because she really likes Stefan.

"Hey Elena!" Caroline Forbes, her bubbly blonde best friend, waves from her pink Bug a few cars away. "Oh my gosh, I have to tell you something! Guess what Tyler did last night?" She skips over happily, looking cute as always in a pink skirt and tank top. "He asked me out! Like officially. Isn't that awesome? You and me are both seeing awesome guys, both of them on the football team. We're going to have an amazing senior year!" She hugs the pretty brunette in excitement.

"That's great, Caroline!" Elena says with a genuine smile.

"Come on, let's go find Bonnie!" Caroline grabs Elena's hand and drags her off towards the main doors of the school to locate their other best friend, Bonnie Bennett.

After finding Bonnie in the girls' restroom, Caroline and Elena fill her in on the update in Caroline's love life. Then they spend the next ten minutes catching up, since they haven't seen each other since yesterday, and in a teenage girl's mind that is _such_ a long time, and making sure their makeup looks good enough to start out the day. Elena excuses herself first from the small group of girls, not wanting to be late for her first period class. She's never been late for class, and it would ruin her record. At her locker, she wrinkles up her nose in disgust at the sight of Damon making out with some skanky blonde sophomore girl in front of her locker.

"Ugh, isn't it bad enough I have to witness your life from next door?" Elena asks in annoyance, "Did I _really_ have to be stuck with a locker next to you?"

Damon pulls his lips off the bimbo for a split second to send a smirk in Elena's direction and reply, "The feeling is mutual. If I could get them to switch us, it'd already be done."

"Well, go contract chlamydia somewhere else," Elena orders saucily, "I need to get in my locker."

Damon and his flavor of the week slide over about two inches before continuing to suck face, even more enthusiastically than before. Blondie is moaning into his mouth and sucking on his tongue like it's the breath of life, while Damon hands have disappeared up her shirt. Elena opens her locker in record time and tosses in her backpack haphazardly, rather than the normal neat placement. She grabs her folder for her first period class and rushes off. She'll be damned if Damon Salvatore is the cause of her being late for class. She makes it inside the Computer Science classroom only seconds before the bell buzzes. Damon enters the classroom thirty or so seconds later, taking his assigned seat next to Elena. As much as they try to get away from each other, it seems to be impossible.

As Ms. Hooper is explaining a new assignment to the class, and Elena's eyes are trained to the teacher, like the goody-goody that she is, Damon sneaks his hand over to Elena's keyboard and types in a website. He snickers under his breath as the page loads and penises appear all over the screen. A video starts to play, and the load moans of a female pornstar and deep grunts of a male fill the classroom. Elena lets out a horrified gasp as she realizes it's coming from _her _computer, and she fumbles with the mouse trying to exit the page. As she exits the one page, more pop up. Her face reddens and she glares over at Damon, who is laughing hysterically at this point. She finally closes all of the windows and apologizes profusely to Ms. Hooper, promising it wasn't her that did that. Ms. Hooper seems skeptical, but she accepts Elena's answer, and moves on with her lesson plan.

After Computer Science, Elena meets Stefan right outside the classroom door. He pulls her in for a hug and places a chaste kiss on her lips. "Mmm, how are you, lovely Elena?"

Elena blushes and replies, "Good. And you, sexy Stefan?" She giggles at the uncharacteristic use of the word 'sexy'. She doesn't usually say things like that, it gives guys the wrong idea, but sexy Stefan sounds so right.

"I'd be better if you weren't leaving me for the rest of this day," Stefan says with a pout. "Do you _have_ to go on the field trip?"

"Yeah," Elena nods, "I do. But I'll see you after school, right?" She smiles hopefully at her sweet boyfriend.

"You will." Stefan nods and kisses her once more before letting her out of his arms. She smiles at him once more before heading towards her locker to grab her backpack. Then she continues out to the parking lot to board the bus for the History field trip.

Up until his step-brother and the Gilbert girl's rare public display of affection, Damon had forgotten about the field trip he is forced to attend for History class. But since he was forced to wait for them to break apart, he also overheard Stefan's disappointment at being away from his precious Elena for a few hours. He doesn't know whether to be grateful for the reminder or disappointed. He doesn't really want to go visit a history museum, even if the exhibit on witchcraft in Mystic Falls hundreds of years ago sounds semi-interesting, but it gets him out of the rest of his classes so it's a fair trade. He chucks his books in his locker and then heads out to the bus. At least Klaus will be going.

* * *

During Mr. Shane's lecture about the witches of Mystic Falls, Elena is standing feet away, listening intently and taking notes. She isn't particularly interested in this witchcraft stuff; this is supposed to be history class not superstition class. What facts do they have that these witches actually existed? Either way, Elena knows there will be a test on this at some point, so she is jotting down anything that seems important on paper.

Meanwhile, Damon and Klaus haven't heard a word out of Mr Shane's mouth since the tour of the museum began thirty minutes ago. Klaus has been cracking jokes about every artifact in the museum. There was a statue with boobies on it, and Klaus literally hasn't stopped laughing about it since. He's still holding his hands out in front of him and tweaking imaginary nipples side to side.

"Mr. Salvatore, am I interrupting you? Or is what Mr. Mikaelson saying of any relevance to the topic at hand?" He pauses, eyebrow raised in an amused fashion. "I'm betting on unlikely." He scans the room and says, "All right everyone, we're going to pair off now and take in the rest of the museum on your own. Mr. Mikaelson and Mr. Salvatore, I don't think so. You two won't be together. Mr. Mikaelson, you are going to be paired with Ms. Young. Mr. Salvatore with...Ms. Gilbert. If I see you away from these young ladies sides before we get back to school, I will see you both in detention."

Damon groans. This isn't possible. Did he really just get paired up with Elena on a _field trip_? Where can he go to escape this bitch? He's gotta get out of Mystic Falls. It's the only way to get away from her and the rest of this useless town.

Elena isn't happy about the partner choice either, but when she tries to get Mr. Shane's attention, he totally ignores her. She rolls her eyes and waits for Damon to join her in front of the strange spellbook that supposedly belonged to the most powerful witch of Mystic Falls five hundred years ago.

"So..." Damon says in a teasing tone, "Been on any good porno sights lately?"

Elena sneers, "Ugh, I can't believe I'm stuck with you!"

"Okay, and I _want_ to be partnered up with you? Yeah right, Gilbert." Damon rolls his icy blue eyes.

"Let's just hope I don't get _stupider_ while I'm with you," Elena murmurs, taking a few more notes about the spellbook in front of them absentmindedly.

"Well I hope I don't catch some uptight virgin disease being with you," Damon returns.

Elena doesn't bother correcting him about the virgin thing; it's none of his business anyways. He's an asshole and a total player. She complains, "I hate you!"

Damon smirks and accuses, "That's because you secretly want to have sex with me."

"I wouldn't have sex with you if you were the last male on Earth," Elena says, her eyes squinting down to near slits as she grows angrier at Damon by the second. Cocky little shit thinks he's so hott! Well, Elena admits to herself, he is pretty hott, but he's gross. He's slept with God knows how many girls and he's vapid and narcissistic, and besides, she's got Stefan. So why would she ever want Damon?

Damon laughs bitterly, "Look at you, you think you're _so _special..."

"Oh don't even start," Elena cuts him off, "I think _I'm _special? Who are you to talk? Aren't you the one in a _band_, trying to be famous since you're _so _good-looking and _so_ special. Looks to me like all you've got so far are the groupies."

"And you're the cheerleader, and on the student council, and getting an A-plus-plus in every single class because all you _ever_ do is study and cheer and whatever the fuck it is you do on student council!"

"Wow, you really are an idiot, aren't you?" Elena insults.

"You're a brown-nosing bitch."

"Do you miss Klaus yet? I didn't think you could go more than five minutes away from your boyfriend."

"Ha. Ha. What about the girl who made you so jealous this morning when she had her tongue down my throat?"

"Jealous? You wish. That's just a pathetic little cover story so you don't have to face the horrendous social repurcussions of coming-out in high school."

"If I were gay, I wouldn't hide it. And I'd still be getting more action than you, _or _my dear brother, Saint Stefan. How long do you really think he's going to wait before he finds someone to fulfill his needs, _Virgin_ia? If he hasn't already."

"Stefan would never..."

"I don't know Elena..."

"Asshole."

"Bitch."

"Ugh, you are so infuriating! I really should pity you, you know that? But I can't, because I hate you too much."

"Yeah, right back at ya."

"Well I hate you more than you could possibly hate me. I'd rather cut off both my legs with a rusty knife than ever be anything like you!"

Damon stares down Elena for a few seconds before saying the only thing that comes to mind. "Ditto."

Elena almost laughs before repeating, "Ditto? Fine, double-ditto."

"Double-double-ditto times a trillion. Infinity."

If either of them had been paying any attention to the spellbook inside the glass casing, they would have noticed that the pages have started to shake, and a faint glow is flowing out of it and surrounding the two of them like fairy dust. The more they argue, and the angrier they get, the faster the glittery dust floats around them, swirling and mixing until it is a blur between them, making them one. Then it stops, just as suddenly as it started, neither of them nor anyone else aware of just happened. Elena rolls her eyes and brushes past Damon, purposely bumping his shoulder on her way, although she may have hurt her own shoulder more than she hurt his. Damon stalks off in the other direction.

Just another normal Tuesday? Nope. It's not. In fact, things are about to be as un-normal as they can get. Damon and Elena disturbed the spirit of an old and powerful witch, and through her spellbook, she cast an ancient spell on them. Things may seem normal now, but in the morning...it will be a very different story.


	2. Chapter 2 Twenty-Four Hour Bug

Author's Note: Thanks so much for reading so far! Again, this idea is completely based off the movie It's a Boy Girl Thing, and the people and places are all from Vampire Diaries. I own nothing. Thanks for the reviews, alerts, and favorites! I hope this lives up to your expectations. Please let me know what you're thinking:)

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 2. Twenty-Four Hour Bug**

After spending the night tossing and turning, Damon wakes up to the sound of strange beeping, which he tries to ignore. He rolls over, burying his face in his pillow and groaning as the sharp pains of a headache shoot down his skull. Well, he can't ignore that. He sits up and rubs at his eyes, fumbling around for his night stand with eyes still closed, and the damned alarm clock that won't stop beeping. He stretches his arm a little further, and...falls off the bed to the floor with a loud **thump!**

"Oww!" Damon whines, his voice sounding very..._girly? _Damon looks down, blinks a few times, and grabs at his chest. "What the-" He squeezes the two, plump funbags to be sure, "_Tits! I have tits!_" He jumps to his feet, hands still holding tight to his newly discovered breasts. He lets go of one for a second to reach down and feel between his legs, only to confirm his terrible suspicion that..."It's gone!"

He turns around once, taking note of the familiar sight of this bedroom that isn't his. He knows this bedroom though. Whose room is this? He comes to a dead halt when he catches sight of _her _standing across the room, looking bewildered and kind of scared. Wait a second, that's a mirror! So that means...

"Oh. My. God!" Damon lets out a high-pitched scream and thinks to himself, _I'm Elena Gilbert!_

Next door, Elena wakes up with a start to the sound of screaming. She gasps and sits straight up, blinking rapidly at the dark, messy bedroom that is not her own. _Where am I?_ She wonders. She massages her temples lightly from the headache she suddenly acquired. She doesn't usually wake up in strange places. This is not normal. She leans back for a moment on the pillows that smell like men's cologne and reminds Elena of somebody she can't put her finger on at this moment. She rests her hands on top of the blue striped comforter and notices they look _bigger_ than usual today. She frowns, noticing a lump further down. She pushes the blanket back, exposing a naked body..._with a__** penis!**_

"Oh my God!" Elena gasps out breathlessly, her voice sounding deeper, like a _man's_. "I'm a man. What the fuck?" She pulls the blankets back over the seemingly _enormous _boner she's now sporting between her legs. Although, to be fair, she's only really seen one penis, but it was _not_ as big as this one.

Elena sits up and looks around for clothes to put on. There are clothes everywhere, but they are all on the floor and look wrinkled and dirty. She takes a few deep breaths, preparing herself for exposing the...you know what...again, before throwing off the blankets and jumping out of bed. She scrambles for the dresser, opening the top one and thanking the Lord she finds boxers. She pulls them on before noticing the mirror to her left. She turns slowly...her mind trying to process what it sees reflecting back at her. Black hair, ice blue eyes, the _sexy chest and abs_...What the Hell is she thinking? "No, no, no! This is a bad dream. A really _bad_ dream!"

Why does it _always_ have to be Damon Salvatore?

Elena stomps over to the window and pulls it open with her new man-strength, shaking the frames of the wooden windows from the force. She winces slightly, hoping it doesn't break. After it stops shaking, she leans out...and witnesses _herself_ lean out of _her_ window in the house next door. What a strange thing to see...

"You!" The Elena-imposter points a finger and shakes it furiously.

"Damon?" Elena whisper-yells, not wanting her parents or his to overhear. "We need to talk!"

Damon nods, shutting the window and turning to search Elena's drawers for something to put on this girl body. Panty drawer, he thinks, _Ew...Elena's panties. _The only funny part about this situation is that he's now seen more of his brother's girlfriend's naked body than Stefan has, and probably ever will see. Wait a minute...if he's in Elena's body, and Stefan is Elena's boyfriend, then he's going to be expecting to _kiss_ him; Damon! That's just wrong. No way is he letting that happen. He needs to talk to Elena so they can fix this problem. **Now.**

_Knock. Knock. Knock. _

"Elena? Are you okay in there, honey?" Miranda Gilbert asks in a concerned motherly tone.

Damon freezes, pink lace panties in one hand, and big brown Elena-eyes staring at the door. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine." He calls hesitantly. Thankfully, the voice sounds completely like the Gilbert girl, so he doesn't need to worry about being a chick who talks like a dude. That'd be weird. Well, weirder than this already is.

"Are you sure? I thought I heard a scream?" Miranda persists.

"I...fell out of bed," Damon answers, "Sorry. I'm fine, though, Mom." Damon peels off the pajama pants and steps into the underwear he chose.

"All right," Miranda sighs. "Well, breakfast will be ready in ten minutes."

_I am so not having breakfast with the Gilbert family_, Damon rolls his eyes, well, Elena's eyes. "I'm not hungry!" Damon pulls on a pair of skinny jeans and struggles into a bra. He's taken probably a hundred bras _off_, but these things are impossible to put _on_! Damon settles on a sports bra; no hooks.

"Don't be silly," Miranda calls through the door, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! See you downstairs in ten, sweetheart."

Damon sighs and pulls on a tank top and a sweatshirt. He has no idea how to do girl's hair, so...he tries his best to put it up in a ponytail. Then he rushes downstairs for the usual Gilbert breakfast of oatmeal and fresh-squeezed orange juice. Damon _hates _oatmeal. It looks like puke...tastes like it too.

Next door, Elena has finally managed to make the boner she woke up with disappear. She'd heard of 'morning wood' before, but damn, that was ridiculous! How _do _boys deal with that every morning? She tried _everything_ to make it go away. She even hit **it** with fly swatter, and it still didn't go down. The only thing that worked was the cold shower, but now she's freezing, and running late. After dressing in what appear to be yesterday's jeans and the only clean t-shirt she could find, she runs down the stairs.

"Goodmorning!" She calls cheerfully to Giuseppe, Isobel, and Stefan, who are sitting at the breakfast table. She smiles as she runs past, explaining apologetically, "I can't stay and eat, I'm late! Have a good day. See you later!" She grabs Damon's backpack and runs out the door, oblivious to the strange looks Damon's family share with one another at his abnormal behavior.

Outside, Elena intends to wait for Damon to come out of her house, so she can figure out a way to get them back in the right body. Damon may be inside her body, but he doesn't have Elena's prompt timing along with it. Klaus pulls up in front of the Salvatore house before Damon comes out with Elena's body. She lingers on the front steps as Klaus waves for Damon to come on so they can go.

"What are you waiting for?" Klaus calls impatiently, "Let's go, my brother."

Elena can't think of any reason not to go with Klaus. Damon rides to school with Klaus every morning. He would _never_ stay behind to purposely talk with Elena, so she can't wait around. She nods and walks towards the car, hoping that Damon will burst out the front door of the Gilbert home before she climbs in the car. He doesn't.

"You okay, dude?" Klaus asks as his best friend climbs in the rusty old Mustang and pulls a seat belt over his shoulder, clicking it securely into place. "You just look like you found out you're gonna be a daddy or something. Oh fuck, you didn't get Rebekah pregnant, did you? 'Cause we may be mates, but that's my little sister!"

"No, no," Damon denies, although Elena isn't entirely sure if Rebekah is in fact not pregnant, but she's assuming no. And since she doesn't want to get her ass kicked, she'd rather not start any drama with Klaus. "Rebekah isn't pregnant. I'm fine."

"All right then," Klaus says with a smile. He blasts the stereo and steps on the gas, speeding off down the quiet neighborhood street towards Mystic Falls High. Elena holds on to her seat belt and prays not to die before they reach the school.

Hearing the sound of Klaus' car, Damon excuses himself from the Gilbert breakfast table and runs out the door, hoping to catch them before they take off. He can't believe Elena got in the car with Klaus. What happened to needing to _talk?!_

"That bitch stole my ride!" Damon says under his breath.

"You ready to go, Lena?" Jeremy asks, holding out a set of car keys to his sister. "You forgot these."

Damon takes the keys and nods, "Right. Let's go."

At school, Damon splits off from Jeremy the second he spots his own body across the football field. What the heck did Elena do with his hair? Hell, he shouldn't be complaining; her hair isn't looking so hot today either. She takes note of that when she sets Damon's blue eyes on her own body. What a messed up morning this has turned out to be.

"You!" Damon says, pointing again accusingly with a perfectly manicured fingernail. "What did you do?"

"Me?" Elena shrugs the broad man shoulders she's not used to having and asks, "What exactly do you think _I _did?"

"How do I know? You're the one who knows everything about everything! Just give me my damn body back!" Damon bursts in Elena's infuriatingly girly and nice voice.

Elena laughs a sarcastic Damon-like laugh and comments, "Oh and I _want_ this body? Please, I think I made it perfectly clear yesterday how little I want to do with _you!_"

"Did you have to eat puke for breakfast this morning?" Damon demands. "I didn't think so! Your mom is a friggin nut. That's where you get it from, isn't it?"

"My mom is not a nut!" Elena argues, pushing her Damon-possessed body by the shoulder. "Don't you talk about her like that, you asshole!"

"Hey, don't push me, I'm a _girl_, remember?" Damon smirks evilly, a look Elena has never seen on her own face before. Noticing that the blue eyes staring back at him have filled with tears, Damon straightens up and looks around wildly, hissing, "Hey, whoa, what are you doing? Don't cry."

"I don't want to be a boy!" Elena whines, "Boys are disgusting. And-and, you're the worst one of them all."

"Come on, I'm not _that_ bad," Damon laughs nervously, hoping no one sees him crying like a little girl. Elena is really doing no good for his image right now, like it was that great to begin with. But still, crying was not something he wanted to be known for. "Look, chill. Obviously we can't be stuck like this forever. Maybe...maybe it's like one of those twenty-four hour things. Like a head-cold."

"A head cold?" Elena repeats skeptically.

"Yeah," Damon nods, more confident this time. "I bet tomorrow we'll wake up and everything will be back to normal. You'll see."

"Okay..." Elena blinks back the tears and sniffles. She copies Damon, nodding her head and agreeing, "Yeah, you're right. It'll be fine tomorrow."

"Exactly. So we just have to get through today, and try not to attract any _unneccessary _attention."

At that moment, Stefan walks up, placing an arm over Elena's shoulder and pulling her in for a kiss. He watches Damon's face wrinkle up in displeasure and asks suspiciously, "Since when did you two become so chummy?"

"We're not chummy," Damon corrects, pulling out of his step-brother's grip and resisting the urge to punch him for kissing his cheek. It's not his cheek though; it's Elena's, so he has to act normal, like he just told Elena to do. "I was just telling him to stop trying to look in my windows when I'm getting dressed in the morning like some creepy perv." He raises his eyebrows at Elena, hoping she'll agree and walk away now.

"Uh yeah..." Elena clears her throat and scratches the back of her head awkwardly, "I'll..try and do that. Okay. I should go. Bye." She turns and walks away quickly in the direction of the school.

Stefan turns to his girlfriend with a smile now that they're alone, and Damon inwardly groans. Before Stefan can try anything, Damon speaks up, "I should go too. Can't be late for class. You know me..." He shuffles away, leaving Stefan waving at the back of Elena's head.

During third period, Mr. Shane's History class, Damon sits front row center in Elena's usual spot. They may have just had a field trip yesterday, but today is presentation day on a project they were assigned two weeks ago. Damon turns around to his usual spot in the back and signals to Elena that he doesn't have the assignment. He forgot her backpack at home, and on top of that, he doesn't know her locker combination. She glares back with his icy cool stare and he has to admit she looks much more intimidating as _him_ than she ever was as herself. He shrugs and turns forward, thinking hard at what excuse he can say when it comes time for his turn.

"Ms. Gilbert," Mr. Shane calls, "You're up." After Elena doesn't rise from her seat to give her presentation, Mr. Shane prompts again, "Elena? Are you with us?"

"Oh, me, sorry," Damon says. He isn't used to being called 'Elena Gilbert'. He holds back the urge to shudder. "About the presentation..."

"Don't tell me you don't have it, Ms. Gilbert," Mr. Shane interrupts, seeming shocked and surprised that Elena could have possibly forgotten an assignment.

"Well, I was running late this morning, and I forgot my notes at home," Damon explains, using Elena's big doe eyes to plea her case, "I'm sorry, Mr. Shane. Can I give my presentation tomorrow?"

"I suppose so Ms. Gilbert, but it's going to be an automatic ten points off your final grade for being late. I hope you've prepared an excellent presentation." Mr. Shane turns his nose up disapprovingly and moves on to the next student.

Damon shoots an apologetic look over his shoulder at Elena, who is staring coolly past him at the chalkboard. The silent treatment. Nice. Damon is good at that game too. Besides, she's got no reason to be so mad. It's not his fault he forgot her homework. It's not _his_ presentation. If she wants to be a little bitch about this whole thing, then so will he.

"Actually Mr. Shane, I think I remember," Damon says, raising up Elena's thin arm to grab the teacher's attention, "My speech, that is. I think I can give my presentation off the top of my head."

"All right then. Go ahead."

Damon stands up to face the class, smirking at the horrified expression Elena is giving him from the back of the class. He then smiles a pleasant, smarty-pants Elena Gilbert smile, at the class before stating, "Okay. The greatest living American..." He clears his throat, "I think the greatest living American is..." Long pause. "...J. Lo."

Mr. Shane raises an eyebrow. "J. Lo?"

"Yeah, you know, Jennifer Lopez."

"I'm well aware what J. Lo stands for," Mr. Shane elaborates, "I'm just wondering what makes you think she qualifies for such an honorable title as the Greatest Living American, Elena."

"Well...she's a singer, a movie star, she had a little bit of a thing with Diddy, and then that dude from, uh, Pearl Harbor? The thing about J. Lo is that she's from the streets, and _now_ she's like this big movie star. She's still...really cool though. You know? She used to have a little, and now she's...got a lot. But she's still Jenny from the block." Scattered laughter from the class makes it harder for Damon to keep a straight face, but he wraps up, "And I think that's pretty damn great. Oh, _and_," Damon steps back and throws one of Elena's arms over Mr. Shane's shoulders, "She's an American. And she's living. So, that's why she qualifies." Damon smiles cheekily, causing Elena's face to appear cute as a button and dumb as a doorknob.

"O-kay," Mr. Shane says, dumbfounded. "Thank you Miss Gilbert. You may sit."

Damon glances at Elena as he sits and sees his raven head resting on the desk. She must be pretty mad. Oh well...

When the bell rings, Damon rushes out of the classroom, but Elena catches up pretty quick with Damon's longer legs. "What the Hell was that? J. Lo? _J. Lo?!_"

"What's the matter?" Damon says, pausing to talk with Elena in the middle of the busy hallway. "I thought that was pretty good. Don't you like J. Lo? I like J. Lo. She has a hott booty."

"Are you kidding me? A hott booty?" Elena repeats incredulously. She lowers her voice, noticing the odd looks they're getting from fellow class-mates. She tugs her smaller form down the hall a ways until they're standing in a less-crowded vicinity. "You made a complete fool out of me in there! You should have just kept your mouth shut after your lame excuse for not having the assignment! Now I look like a complete dumbass because you think someone with a 'hott booty' is qualifying for an honor such as Greatest Living American!"

"You're crazy," Damon says with a roll of Elena's brown eyes.

"And you're the biggest moron at Mystic Falls High, Damon Salvatore."

"I don't appreciate you calling me a moron, and you can forget about me doing you anymore favors, Miss Priss." Damon says haughtily, stalking off down the hall.

"Favors," Elena mumbles under her breath, "You can that a favor? Ha!"

"Hey there sexy," A feminine voice purrs into her ear. Her eyes are covered by cool hands that smell like strawberries and a wet sticky kiss is placed on her - well, _Damon's_ - neck.

"Oh!" Elena jumps, putting a foot or so distance between Damon's body and the little blonde Barbie that Elena recognizes as the girl Damon was with yesterday. "Hey." She wipes the lipgloss off her neck, feeling disgusted by the sticky substance.

"Where have you been? I was looking for you." She says, bouncing up and down happily, causing her boobs to nearly jiggle out of the low-cut top she's wearing. She puts her arms around Damon's neck and presses her cleavage against his chest, stating suggestively, "My parents are going out of town tonight, so I was wondering if you wanted to come over?"

"Why would I do that?" Elena replies, hoping that playing cool about it will get this girl to back off.

Apparently not. "Mmm, because we'll be _all alone._ And I thought maybe we could," she presses her body even closer to Damon's and whispers, "get inside their hot tub and you can fuck my brains out like you did last time they went out of town. I really liked it when you..."

"Oh God," Elena pulls away quickly, "That's disgusting. I think I'm gonna throw up!" Elena runs down the hall to the boy's room and ducks inside.

After waiting until the slutty blonde has abandoned her post in the hallway, Elena exits the bathroom and hurries off towards the lunch room, hoping not to run into her again. At lunch, Klaus waves Elena over, and she joins him and a few other guys Elena isn't even sure the names of. She hopes they're not close friends of Damon's or they'll be in for a rude surprise when he ignores them.

"So, did Rebekah tell you the news?" Klaus asks, waggling his eyebrows at Damon.

"Ugh, yes," Elena shares, "She wants me to fuck her in your parents' hot tub."

"'Ey, what'd I tell you about that shit?" Klaus throws a carrot stick at Damon's head. "I don't care what you're doing with her, just don't give me any details!"

"Sorry," Elena replies quietly.

"Well," Klaus frowns, "What's wrong with you then? You've been weird all day."

"Nothing," Elena lies, "I just didn't sleep well last night." She wonders if maybe she should tell Klaus she's not really Damon; she's Elena Gilbert, and somehow she and Damon switched bodies last night. But what would Klaus Mikaelson do about it? He's just as big of an idiot as Damon is. But maybe...maybe Bonnie or Caroline would be able to help? Bonnie did always say her Grams insists their ancestors were witches of Mystic Falls.

"Didn't sleep well?" Klaus repeats unsympathetically. "Well snap out of it. We're meeting at Ric's for practice after school, and you have to be there."

"Practice?" Elena frowns. That kind of puts a damper on her plans to find and talk to Bonnie this afternoon. "What practice?"

"Band practice?" Klaus stares at his best friend like he took one too many stupid pills this morning. "You sure you're not stoned or something? You're...slower than usual today, Salvatore."

"I'm fine," Elena says firmly. "But I really can't make it today. I have a prior engagement...I can't get out of it."

"What do you mean you can't get out of it?" Klaus snaps, "You're the one who said no more missing band practice. What happened to entering that competition at the end of the month? If you're not taking this seriously, what am I wasting my time for? We both know I'm not half as good as you are Damon."

"Whoa, chill out, Klaus," Elena orders, giving him her best serious-Damon-face. "I know what I said. We just, we have to do it tomorrow."

"Can't you get out of whatever it is you're doing?"

"No, I can't. Sorry." Elena shrugs nonchalantly, knowing that is a very Damon-like move. She's seen him do it countless times before. "I'll see you later Klaus."

_I can't do this_, Elena thinks to herself. It's impossible. She can't _be_ Damon Salvatore. She can't learn how to play guitar and be in Damon's band. She can't live the rest of her life pretending to be the step-brother of the boy she's currently in _love_ with, although she's not one-hundred percent sure about that, so she hasn't told Stefan yet. She can't spend her life as a man, period. She wants to cry again, but she promised Damon she would try and act normal, and Damon wouldn't cry in school. Actually, Elena herself wouldn't want to be caught crying in school either, so she sucks it up and goes to class.

After last period, Damon is hoping to avoid Stefan on his way out to the parking lot, so he can get into Elena's car and drive home, where he...fuck. There's no fucking way to avoid Stefan! Elena lives _right goddamn next door!_ It's inevitable that Stefan is going to try and kiss his girlfriend at some point, and Damon won't be able to tell him that it's not really Elena but himself, because Stefan would never believe something like that. And if he did believe it he'd be pissed because, well, he's been trying to kiss his brother all day; and that's weird, to say the least.

"Elena!" Stefan yells across the parking lot, smile lighting up his face. This schmuck sure does like Elena, like obsessively. Although Damon has a feeling part of it is the chase; he likes that Elena isn't willing to give it up easily, but he does want it. He wants to conquer her. And when he does, he'll move on. It's what Stefan does. He's just a gentleman about it.

"Stefan," Damon greets solemnly, "Hi." _Great, just great,_ he thinks to himself.

"Where have you been all day, lovely Lena?" Stefan asks before stooping down to kiss her forehead.

"Just around," Damon shrugs. "Busy day. Sorry." He hasn't spoken to Stefan peacefully in a long time, and he doesn't know how to have a conversation with him anymore, especially not pretending to be his girlfriend. What the heck do Stefan and Elena talk about? Hell if he knows.

"Well are you busy now?" Stefan asks hopefully.

"Actually," Damon replies as he spots his body walk out of the school with the Bennett girl, "I am. Sorry Stefan. I'll call you later though?"

Damon jogs over to Bonnie and, well, Damon, and asks in Elena's voice, "He-ey, what's going on here?"

"Elena," Bonnie says with a sigh of relief, "Damon here," She gives him a disturbed look, "was just telling me something interesting about the two of you."

"Oh?" Damon glares at Elena accusingly, "Well you know him...what did he say, exactly?"

"I was telling Bonnie," Elena explains in an unusually snooty tone of voice for Damon's taste, "About what happened to us. I think she can help."

"Yeah, that," Bonnie raises an eyebrow at her best friend in a 'help me' expression. Damon isn't sure what Elena has in mind trying to tell Bonnie about their current situation, but she's clearly not buying it, and to keep an awful 'Damon's gone crazy' rumor from spreading, he's got to nip this in the bud. Now. "I don't really know what you mean, Damon. You look like yourself to me. And Elena looks like herself...so, Elena, do you feel strange today?"

"Not anymore than any other day," Damon replies, eyes on his blue counter-part's. "Damon, why don't you come with me." Without waiting for an answer, he grabs one of Elena's hands and drags off the blabber-mouth in the direction of her car. Surprisingly, in Elena's body, he is struggling to pull his own muscley form. "Why must you be so weak, Elena?"

"What?" Elena asks indignantly. "I am not!"

"Are too," Damon argues. "And what are you doing telling Bonnie Bennett about our _situation _for? I thought I was pretty clear we should keep this on the down-low until everything goes back to normal."

"And what if it doesn't go back to normal?" Elena asks, seeming on the verge of another break-down. "I think Bonnie can help. I don't want to be stuck like you forever."

"It's been like twelve hours, Elena," Damon points out, "Give it some fracken time. You're so damn impatient. If it doesn't...go back to normal soon, then you can talk to Bonnie. I don't care. But before you go around making me sound like an escaped mental patient let's see if we can figure this out ourselves."

"Fine." Elena agrees reluctantly, wanting badly to disagree with Damon. But he's right. Bonnie didn't believe what she was saying when the words were coming out of _Damon's _mouth. She's not going to be any help if she doesn't believe the story. "You have until the end of the week. But if this isn't back to normal by then, I'm telling somebody."

"Fine." Damon repeats bitingly. He's annoyed she thinks she's the only one affected by this; like she's the only one with a life and his means nothing. That's exactly how his dad and Isobel and Stefan feel about him. That's probably why Elena thinks it, too. Stefan probably brain-washed her even more into thinking he's an insufferable asshole. Whatever. Damon was going to give Elena a ride home, but Elena would never do that for him so he won't. He waves and sends a snarky smile in Elena's direction before hopping in Elena's car and driving off.

"Dick." Elena mouths to Damon. She can't stand him. The sooner she gets out of his body the better. She doesn't have a ride home with Klaus since she blew him off about band practice, so she's stuck taking the bus. Gross.

At home, Elena locks herself in Damon's disgustingly filthy room and distracts herself by tidying up. Once the room is clean, she sits down at the desk that has probably never been used to do homework on, and does Damon's homework. She wonders if she should go next door and get her backpack to do her homework too. Actually, she has an even better idea; she'll do his homework and write her name. So she's really doing _her_ homework. Why should she help Damon get better grades just because her brain is stuck in his body?

She's tired after all the homework is finished, and kind of hungry too, but she realized she hasn't showerd all day. And being in this stinky boy body, she's actually starting to...smell. _Ew._ But if she takes a shower, she'll be required to not only see Damon's naked body, but touch it and wash it. That is just _so_ awkward. Wait a minute...if she will see _his_ naked body then that means he's going to see...

Just then, the stereo switches on next door and 'Sexy and I Know It' starts blaring from the speakers loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.

"Oh my God! Damon you perverted little man..." Elena rushes over to the window and looks across the way into her bedroom. The sight she sees makes her angry, embarrassed, and a little...turned on? No, that's not right! Damon is putting on his after-shower show, dancing around in a towel, only it's Elena's body, not his, and he was definitely waiting for her to catch him in the act. He waves Elena's fingers and winks, running her hands up and down her body. Elena opens the window and shouts, "What do you think you're doing? You stop it right now, Damon! Stop that!"

Damon opens the window and whines, "Aw come on, why stop now? I was just starting to have some fun with you, Elena."

"You're disgusting," Elena states.

"Why? You can play with me too," Another wink.

"I don't want to," Elena denies, and she'll deny it no matter what he says or how she's feeling. "And I don't want _you_ taking advantage of this situation. Just know that you're only seeing me naked because you're in control of my body. I would _never_ do anything with you, Damon."

"You wouldn't do anything with anyone," Damon reminds her, "So is that really an insult? I don't know..." Damon shrugs Elena's petite shoulders and twirls her brown hair around a finger.

Elena grunts and she slams the window shut, not wishing to hear another word out of _her_ mouth. She sighs and accepts that a shower is just something that's going to have to wait until tomorrow. Hopefully by then she'll be back in her own body, and Damon can scrub his own balls down in the morning. If he cares to. She doesn't care what he does with his balls, or anything else for that matter. She turns out the light, climbs into bed, and wills sleep to come. When she wakes up, she'll be back in her own body. She _has_ to be. And if she's not, she's going to **kill** Damon.

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A/N: I hope things didn't get confusing when talking about Damon/Elena in each other's bodies. I tried to make it as clear as possible who is who. Anyways, hope you liked:) Let me know what you think.


	3. Chapter 3 This Means War

**A/N: **Thanks so much for reading this story! I'm so grateful for the feedback, and for all the alerts/favorites so far:) I know some of you have watched It's A Boy Girl Thing after reading this, and I think that's awesome, because it's such a funny movie. Hope you guys continue to read and enjoy this story(:

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 3. This Means War**

Unfortunately for Elena and for Damon, the curse of the witch Ayana is _not_ like a 'twenty-four hour head cold' as they'd hoped. It's not a forty-eight hour flu either. If only Elena and Damon had been paying more attention at the museum, instead of arguing with each other like a pair of children, they'd never be in this situation. If anyone, they should be blaming themselves. Now they're stuck in these bodies until they've learned their lesson. At the rate they've been going at, it might be a _while_.

When Damon wakes in the morning, the first thing he does is lift his shirt collar, and take a peek inside. _Dammit_. The tits are still there. He's still Elena Gilbert. _Fuck my life. _Like any other normal teenage guy, he always thought it'd be cool to be a girl for a day, so he could have his own set of boobies to play with. But damn, his day is over with, and he misses his _manhood_.

Speaking of...

Elena wakes up at the sound of the alarm, and realizes she's still Damon when she sees she's got _another_ boner. "What the hell?" She shakes her head and thinks, _I am so going to need therapy after this_.

Well, if she's stuck in this disgusting body, she's going to at least shower and dress properly. If Damon doesn't mind looking like a grungy slob all the time, that's up to him. But Elena isn't into the whole 'bad boy' look, or the same pair of jeans all week, or every single shirt being black. First, she'll need to take a shower. She's going to just have to suck it up and do it. Otherwise, she is going to waste another hour trying to get rid of this annoying morning wood, and still smell like a dirty gym sock. _Boys are gross._

Elena chooses an outfit and spreads it out neatly on the bed before opening the door to the bathroom and stepping inside. The room is foggy and hot, like someone recently took a shower. Very recently.

"What the Hell, Damon?" Stefan asks from behind Elena. She turns around quickly and resists the urge to stare when she sees that her boyfriend is completely nude, oh-so hot, and dripping wet. She's never seen him naked before, so it's pretty hard not to stare. "Uh, hello?"

"S-sorry," Elena finally stutters out, "I didn't realize..." She focuses very hard on Stefan's green eyes, which are more than a little annoyed at the moment, "...you were in here."

"Obviously," Stefan says sarcastically. "Do you mind?"

"O-kay," Elena backs out of the room quickly and shuts the door. She laughs quietly to herself and closes her eyes, remembering what Stefan's...junk...had looked like. She can feel her - well, Damon's - cheeks heat up at the thought. God, what would Stefan think if he knew?

Ten minutes later, Stefan is still not out of the bathroom. Elena knocks and asks timidly, "Stefan, are you still in there?"

His one-word reply, "Yup."

As the minutes tick by, Elena has a feeling Stefan is purposely keeping Damon from the bathroom. She knocks again, "Uh, Stefan? I have to take a shower."

After a long pause, "Too bad." Elena's jaw drops. She's never heard Stefan talk so rudely to her. But then again, he's not talking to her; he's talking to _Damon_. And Stefan and Damon have never gotten along. Well, not since they hit puberty, anyways.

Elena sighs and comes the conclusion that she's not going to be able to take a shower this morning. Thankfully, Stefan distracted Elena enough to make the wood in Damon's pants disappear. She dresses in the black slacks and white button-up shirt she picked out from the back of Damon's closet. She has a feeling he's not going to be too happy about her choice in apparel, but she doesn't really care. Everything else is dirty, and she hasn't exactly gotten around to doing laundry. Maybe the whole not being able to shower thing will keep Rebekah away from her today. That would be one less thing to worry about...

Damon was thinking the same thing when choosing an outfit for Elena this morning. He tried to find something that would make Elena look less...appealing, but he came to the frustrating realization that this girl doesn't look _bad_ in anything. Well, the hair is really the only Damon messes up without meaning to. _How do girls deal with all of this hair? _He wonders. Still, even with semi-bed head, he doesn't think it'll be enough to keep Stefan's hands to himself.

At school, Damon waits for Elena to arrive in his body, and when he spots her he grabs her and pulls her behind someone's truck to talk. "Hey," He says with a frown, "I heard about what you said to Rebekah."

"What are you talking about?" Elena asks, seeming preoccupied. Damon gives her a look, and Elena frowns. "Are you _kidding?_ How did you even find out about that? And what did you want me to do? _Do it?!_"

"Uh, girls talk," Damon points out with an eye-roll, "And Rebekah is no exception. Especially when she gets turned down. I'll be lucky if she ever even lets me touch her funbags again after this. She's _very_ demanding."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Elena says in a mocking tone, "I wouldn't want to ruin your _relationship_." Elena puts her hand on her hip, which looks very...well, gay on Damon's body.

"Stop that," Damon orders, "I don't stand like that. You do. Wait a minute." He steps back and looks at what Elena dressed him in. "What-what am I wearing? Where did you get that?"

Elena looks down and then back up at Damon with a shrug, "What's wrong with this? It was in your closet. And everything else is dirty."

"I haven't worn that since like...Homecoming...Freshman Year." Damon shudders. "Not a good night. Why'd you pick that?"

"How was I supposed to know you have some weird, traumatizing experience attached to this shirt?" Elena asks incredulously. "And I'm not complaining about what you put on me, so can we just drop this? Please? I already had a bad morning." She grimaces, "Stefan didn't let me take a shower."

"Stefan is a dick." Damon states.

Anyone listening to this conversation would be very confused. Elena Gilbert claiming her Football Star boyfriend Stefan Salvatore is a dick, and Damon Salvatore dressed up for _school_? That is very strange and unusual. Lucky for them, no one is listening. All they have to do is keep up the act and they may get through this body-swapping experience with their social lives unscathed...Or not, it's really up to them.

"He is not," Elena insists, "He just doesn't like _you_."

"Do you even know why?" Damon asks.

"I don't care," Elena says with a very impressive Damon-smirk. "So, I see you actually brought my backpack today. Does that mean you did your homework? Because I did mine." She reaches into Damon's black backpack and pulls out the homework she did marked 'Elena Gilbert'. "Here." She reaches out to give Damon the homework, but he's walking away. "Hey! Where are you going?"

"Wherever I want!" Damon calls without looking back, heading towards Elena's car.

"Class starts in five minutes!" He holds up a French-tipped middle finger in response. "Cute. But seriously, where are you going?!"

Damon has a plan in mind. He sees how Elena is going to be. She doesn't give a shit about him. Not that he cares about her...She blew off band practice, although he can't really expect her to be able to play guitar or know any of the songs. She blew off Rebekah, which he is mad about, but knows he's not exactly right for being angry since he didn't really think Elena would have fucked Rebekah. He also can't decide whether that would be too weird, or kinda hott and kinky? On the other hand, he's not letting Stefan near him in Elena's body, not even with a ten-foot pole, so why would he think Elena wouldn't be thoroughly creeped out at the idea of pretending to be Damon with Rebekah? This whole situation is fucked.

But that doesn't mean he can't have a little fun. Elena doesn't care about his life, and so he doesn't care about hers. There goes her perfect attendance record. She might even get - _GASP!_ - **detention**. But hey, he'll have the whole Gilbert house to himself to do whatever he wishes.

* * *

Damon underestimates Elena's smarts, though. After Damon doesn't show up with her body for first period, she excuses herself to the bathroom to make a phone call. She calls the front office as Mr. Gilbert and explains her absences from her first few classes, because of a doctor's appointment, of course. If Damon doesn't come back by lunch, she'll find his ass and drag him back here. He's not going to ruin her school record.

Thirty minutes before the lunch bell rings, Elena takes out Damon's phone and sends a text to her number: **Be back here before the end of lunch or I'm telling Klaus I quit your stupid band.**

She receives a text back: **Do it. I'll break up with Stefan.**

She wants to send another text back stating that if he even tries to make that move she'll tell the entire school, as Damon, that she discovered she has herpes. But she decides not to since she's almost positive he'll be back at school by lunchtime. And she's right, but if she had sent that text things would have most definitely escalated from a small disagreement to a full-out brawl.

When Damon returns to school, he finds Elena sitting with Klaus at his usual table. Klaus raises a curious eyebrow in Damon's direction and watches as his friend follows his uptight virgin neighbor outside to the patio. That's highly unusual...

"Okay, so here's how this is gonna work," Damon announces, pulling a folded piece of paper from the back pocket of Elena's fitted jeans.

"Here's how what's going to work?" Elena asks in a bored tone. She's really starting to catch on with some of Damon's facial expressions. Now if she could only stop standing and sitting so...girly.

"I was wrong about the twenty-four hour bug thing-"

"Clearly," Elena cuts in.

"Shut up," Damon hushes her before continuing, "And since you obviously don't give a shit about my life and what happens, then I'm making some rules. If you want to get your life back in the same condition you left it when our bodies got switched, then you're gonna follow my rules."

Elena snatches Damon's list of rules out of his hands with a scoff. "What the Hell are you talking about, Damon?" She skims it, reading out loud, "No quitting the band...no gay clothes; how is that my fault? These were in your closet. Whatever...no crying in public. Or at **all**...no 'brother bonding' with Stefan? What do you think I'm going to do? Seduce him with your body? You're majorly messed up in the head...And last but not least, stop messing things up for you and Rebekah. Again, not sure I can help with that. I'm not going to have sex while in your body."

"You're not doing it in yours either," Damon points out. "Unless, of course, you'd like to start now?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you don't want to play by the rules," Damon threatens, "Then I'm going to make your life Hell."

"What could you do?" Elena asks, immediately regretting it.

"What couldn't I do?" Damon shoots back with a smirk.

"Fine." Elena agrees. "But if you get a list; I get a list."

"Fine." Damon nods, and then turns and walks away.

By the end of the day, Elena has her list for Damon. (**1**. Be nice to Bonnie and Caroline, **2**. Study! I can't let my grades slip if I'm going to go to Yale next year, **3**. Go to Student Council meetings, **4**. Try not to mess things up with Stefan. I really like him, **5**. Help me; I have no idea how to play guitar or be a guy.) Elena thinks her list is pretty easy. She's not giving Damon any impossible tasks, so he should have nothing to complain about. In fact, he should be thanking her, because she's going to let him quit cheerleading. She had been thinking it was time to quit anyways; it's just not fun like it used to be.

She passes the note to Damon on her way to Klaus' car.

"What was that?" Klaus asks suspiciously.

"What?" Elena asks with a wide-eyed, innocent gaze, "Nothing."

"Did you just pass a _note_ to your brother's virgin girlfriend?" Klaus' words sound as though he talks about Elena like that all the time, and it kind of hurts her feelings. She shouldn't feel so upset by it. She and Damon practically hate each other, and Klaus is his best friend, so he'd feel the same. Just like Bonnie and Caroline don't care for Damon. It's a vicious circle.

"I...no." Elena denies.

"I saw you," Klaus insists. He starts up the engine of his Mustang, but doesn't make any moves to start driving. He wants an explanation. _Damn._ Elena had thought Klaus would be too stupid to suspect anything, but she supposes he must not be as stupid as she originally thought. He raises an eyebrow in suspicion before accusing, "You're gonna steal Elena from Stefan, aren't you?"

That's the first time Klaus has used her name. _Wait, what did he just say?! _"No way," Elena replies, "Why would I do that?"

"_Revenge?_" Klaus fills in, as if it's the most obvious answer in the world; the only answer.

_Why would Damon want revenge on Stefan? _Elena wonders. "I…"

"Fine," Klaus sighs, "Don't tell me about it. But if you fuck her, you better tell me all about it. I bet she's not really a virgin. She's probably a closet-slut."

Elena's mouth drops open and she has to bite her tongue to keep from shouting at him indignantly. She may not be a virgin, but she didn't give herself that nickname. And she is _not _a closet-slut. _That annoying British prick! _

"Okay, you're seriously freaking me out, dude," Klaus says, finally backing his car out of the parking space and exiting the school lot. "What is going on with you? Do you like the Gilbert girl or something? You blew off Rebekah. You're passing Elena notes, not calling her names or anything…" Klaus trails off, waiting for a reply.

Elena shakes her head, trying to think of something Damon would say. _What would Damon say? What would Damon say? _She finally settles with, "Of course I don't like her. What the Hell, Klaus? She's-she's-" She can't think of anything insulting to say about herself.

"She's…?" Klaus asks in an amused fashion.

Elena sighs, giving up. "I don't know. But I don't like her. Okay? Just trust me on that. Like is the opposite of what I feel for her."

"All righty then…" Klaus still seems suspicious, but he drops the subject. "So, band practice tonight?"

_Fuck!_ Elena had forgotten she said that. She was thinking Damon would be back in his body today, and she wouldn't have to worry about Klaus bringing up band practice. But how can she bail on him again? She already used a lame excuse yesterday. No way is Klaus going to fall for another. And if she messes up things for Damon in his band, then he's going to mess up _her _life.

"Uh…" Elena shrugs, "Yeah. Guess so."

"Ric said he'll be home at seven." Klaus informs his best friend, "So, want me to pick you up then?"

"Sure," Elena agrees. "Sounds good." In actuality, it sounds scary and impossible. She doesn't want to go at all, but she's going to do it. No one has ever called Elena Gilbert a quitter before, and she might be in Damon Salvatore's body right now but she's still no quitter. Well, she did quit cheerleading this week, but...that doesn't count.

* * *

Damon is pretty surprised at the list Elena made up for him to follow. He thought it would consist of many more rules than just five, and that they'd be a lot harder to follow, but it seems pretty easy. She doesn't want to lose her friends, her boyfriend, or her good grades. Thank God she's not making him do cheerleading. But number five? Asking for his help? That one is going to be tougher. How can she expect them to spend time together, _helping_ each other, when they aren't normally seen together…_ever_? Everyone will be suspicious. Everyone will wonder what they're doing. Damon knows Klaus is probably already suspicious after seeing a note passed from Damon's hands to Elena's. And Stefan is so territorial; he won't let Damon near Elena. So how the fuck is this going to work?

Damon is sitting on the front steps at the Gilbert home when he watches Klaus pull up with Elena in the passenger seat. He watches her climb out and wave goodbye to Klaus. She glances over at him, her expression…_confused? _Damon isn't sure, but either way, she goes inside like a good little body-snatcher and he tries to pretend he doesn't notice Stefan's arrival to the house next door.

"Elena." The sound of Stefan's voice makes Damon want to cringe, but he fights off the urge.

"Stefan," He greets, trying to smile happily, as Elena would, "Hi."

"Where were you today? You weren't in class all morning," Stefan asks in a concerned way.

Damon wants to slap the look off his brother's face. What a fake. Like he's really concerned? Yeah right. "I wasn't feeling well this morning," Damon lies, "So I went home to rest for a while."

"Aw, I'm sorry," Stefan coos. "Are you feeling better now?"

Damon isn't sure which way he should take this. If he says he's feeling better, Stefan will assume Elena wants to hang out, but if he says he's not feeling better, will Stefan leave him alone or try and…come inside? Damon decides to go for a more direct route. "A little. I think I'm going to take a nap though."

"Want me to-"

Damon cuts Stefan off by placing Elena's small hand over his mouth and stating sympathetically, "No, I can't let you get sick. You have a big game next week. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"All right," Stefan sighs. He kisses his girlfriend on the cheek before heading next door to his house.

Damon retreats into the safety of the Gilbert home, thanking his lucky stars Stefan cares more about himself and the football game next week than comforting his girlfriend. Poor Elena. She actually thinks Stefan is in love with her or something. Damon knows he's not, though. He knows when Stefan is being fake; putting on a front. Maybe Elena will realize Stefan isn't a friggin' saint after she spends some time getting to know the real Stefan. Nah. She'll just assume its Damon's fault. She won't realize the truth about Stefan until it's too late. Just like he didn't realize the truth about Katherine…

Damon didn't plan to actually fall asleep when he went upstairs to Elena's room, kicked off her shoes, and laid down in her bed. That is what happened though. He blames the bed. It's the most comfortable thing he's ever laid down on. Seriously, he might have to steal this bed from Elena once he gets his body back, that's how comfortable it is.

It takes him a moment to realize what woke him up. Then it starts ringing again. Elena's cell phone.

"Hello?" He greets without looking at the caller-ID.

"Okay, please don't be mad at me…"

He wasn't expecting on his own voice to be on the other line. "Elena?"

"No, the _other _person trapped in your body!" Elena returns sarcastically, "Yes, it's me!"

"Well what do you want?" Damon snaps, annoyed at her sarcasm. That's _his _thing. She can't steal that just because she stole his body.

Elena sighs into the phone, "Okay, just, come over to the window and I'll explain."

Damon groans and climbs off the bed, walking over to Elena's huge window and taking a seat on the window seat. He sees his own face staring across from his room in the house next door. His face looks…guilty, and a little scared. Damon tosses the phone aside and pulls open the window.

"What did you do?" He asks, crossing his arms over his chest in a very Elena-like pose.

Elena grimaces and shakes her head, "I don't want to tell you until you promise not to be mad."

Damon shakes his head, "No way. I'm not making any promises."

"Fine," Elena says decidedly, "But it _was_ an accident, and I am so, so sorry…but I broke your guitar."

"_**What?!**_"

"I'm sorry!" Elena repeats, truly meaning what she says. It was a total accident. She would never purposely break something that she knew meant so much to Damon. Especially not after establishing ground rules. That'd be very stupid on her part.

But Damon is so angry, all he sees is red. To him, it wasn't an accident. Elena did it on purpose, to sabotage him, and to sabotage his band. She broke the guitar to get out of playing it because she doesn't know how. She's going to ruin his life!

"Shouldn't have done that, Elena," Damon says in a warning tone.

"Damon," Elena says seriously, pleading for him to listen to her, "I swear, it was an accident. I'm really sorry. What can I do-"

"Nothing!" Damon yells. He glares as harshly as possible with this sickly _cute_ face of Elena's. "Just sit back and watch the show."

"What show?" Elena asks, feeling nauseas now.

"You'll see," Damon says with a scary smirk. "This means **war**, Elena."

* * *

**A/N**: Feedback is appreciated! Next chapter, things are going to get very…awkward/hilarious/mortifying…you take your pick when you read it;)

If you have a moment, check out the poll on my profile page to help me decide which story idea to start next. Thanks!


	4. Chapter 4 Getting Even

**Hey Readers! **Welcome to chapter 4:) Thanks so much for reading so far. Double thanks to those who favorited/followed/reviewed the story. I love and appreciate the feedback. **Special Thanks: **DeeReadinQueen, I'S Watcher, MelissaSomerhalder, XxsophieCxX, and theonlyisabla for reviewing last chapter! *Hugs*

-BecomingScarlett

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 4. Getting Even**

Friday morning, when the alarm on Elena's nightstand goes off, Damon reaches over and turns it off correctly on the first try. It only took him three mornings to figure the damn thing out. Maybe it's because he's got his game face on today; figuratively speaking, of course, since _his_ face currently belongs to Elena. But Elena has no idea who she's up against. She is going to be in for a shock when she sees what Damon has in store for her today. He smiles evilly up at the ceiling before climbing out of bed and getting to work on the outfit he's planning on wearing. Yeah...Elena really is in for a shock...

Elena had set the alarm early so she could beat Stefan in the bathroom this morning. She knows Damon declared 'war' last night, but since she's _not_ a teenage boy, she's got no fucking clue what that means. Is it normal for boys to declare war on each other when they get mad? Elena knew he'd be mad when he found out the status on his guitar, but he was really _livid_. Elena never knew before how much his band meant to Damon. Then again, why would she know? He never told her, and Stefan always talked about Damon's band like it was just a joke. She really messed up breaking his guitar.

Hopeful as ever, Elena sends a text to her phone from Damon's after successfully taking a shower. She writes: **I really am sorry about what happened, Damon. Please let me figure out a way to buy you a new guitar? -E**

Damon doesn't bother responding to Elena's text, because he has no intentions of accepting a meaningless apology-text. How did she break his guitar by accident? He can't think of any way to break a guitar short of throwing a rocker-tantrum and smashing it, throwing it out a window, or maybe dropping it down a set of stairs - _Which is exactly what happened; only Damon didn't allow Elena to explain her epic failure to lock his guitar case before leaving the house._ - But...he doesn't feel like listening to her excuse because he is far too positive Elena Gilbert is on a mission to ruin his life. The only thing that will make him feel better is getting even for her breaking his guitar. So that's what he's going to do.

Maybe if Damon were thinking clearly, he'd see that he's only reacting this way because he's gotten so used to his constant battle with Stefan; he doesn't know how to work out a problem with words but with revenge. Maybe if Elena knew about Damon and Stefan's past, she'd make more of an effort to work out this problem than a simple text message. But if either of them already had everything figured out, Ayana wouldn't have cursed them, would she?

* * *

"Okay, I'm not one to judge..." Jeremy says after the awkward drive to school in the car with his half-naked sister. "But are you sure you want to go to school dressed like that?" He shrugs and averts his eyes out the window.

"Totally," 'Elena' replies casually.

Jeremy nods, contemplating what he should say next, since this is definitely _not_ normal Elena behavior or attire. "All right...well, is there a reason why? People are going to think-"

"I don't care what anyone thinks," Damon cuts off little Gilbert's annoying 'speech' before it bores him to death. "I'm just having fun, _Jer_; lighten up."

"Whatever," Jeremy sighs. He exits the vehicle and Damon lets out a loud breath of relief. At least Jeremy is Elena's younger brother; if it were the other way around he might not have had such an easy time dressing like a complete slut.

Damon checks Elena's reflection in the mirror, making a kissy face with plump, lip-gloss covered lips. The make-up is sloppy, but better than some of the girls' at this school. He is semi-proud of himself. He paired messy pigtails with a short, plaid 'school girl' skirt. He was going for a Britney-style; before she wigged out and shaved her head, of course. The skirt Elena owned wasn't quite short enough, so he cut a few centimeters...or inches...off the bottom. The short-sleeved, white blouse wouldn't be bad, except Damon put a lacy red bra underneath and should probably button-up two or three more buttons to be school appropriate. Damon doesn't give a fuck about that. This is step one of getting even with Elena.

He takes one last look in the mirror, smirks confidently, and climbs out of the car. Damon tries to saunter in a sexy fashion, like the Victoria's Secret runway models do, but walking in high heels is definitely _not _as easy as it looks. He wobbles his way down the sidewalk leading to the school's front entrance. He has his chin held high and shows not one hint of the shy virgin Elena usually is. Every male within a five-hundred foot radius is checking Elena's body out, some calling out crude remarks which Damon winks back at. If Elena were listening, she would die of embarrassment.

"Hey sweet cheeks!"

"Nice ass."

"You're looking fine, baby."

Damon was hoping Elena would've arrived with Klaus around the same time as he and Jeremy, but he was running a little late. He'll never again complain when a date of his is taking too long in the bathroom; being a girl is a lot of work! Anyways, no Elena, but Stefan shows up. _The guy has got...__**perfect**__ timing._

"Elena?" He says questioningly, a frown on his brow. He half-smiles, wondering why his girlfriend looks like she's dressing up for a slutty Britney Spears impersonation. "What's going on?" He forces out a chuckle.

Damon knows Stefan too well, though. He can hear the stiffness in his voice and see the disapproval in his eyes. "Stefan," He giggles in Elena's high-pitched, girlish way, "I missed you!" He jumps Stefan's body for a hug, pressing close with his borrowed breasts, like Rebekah always does to him when she wants to distract him from something annoying she's done.

"Really?" Stefan asks, seeming surprised. He wasn't expecting the excited hug after Elena has been so distant with him the past couple of days. "Is all this for me?" He gestures towards the outfit with a sly smile.

"Uh-huh," Damon teases.

Stefan whispers, "That's really sexy Elena, but you should save things like this for when we're alone."

"Aw, well, I thought it would help me get over being so shy," Damon explains, the lie slipping off his tongue easily, "So that _we_ can finally becoming...closer."

Stefan's eyes widen, and Damon is thrilled that this body-swap has allowed him to get revenge on Stefan too, because now Stefan is going to be amped up all day about sex he's not actually going to be receiving. "Really?" Stefan questions hopefully.

"Oh yeah," Damon winks one of Elena's brown eyes at Stefan. Then he sneaks a hand down to give Stefan's package a good squeeze.

Stefan jumps and laughs nervously. What the heck has gotten into his normally prude girlfriend? He's not sure, but maybe he shouldn't complain...Stefan grabs Elena's chin firmly and kisses her on the mouth. "Can't wait. I'll see you later."

After Stefan runs off, Damon wipes his mouth and spits on the sidewalk. "Gross," He mutters. He spits again. "_Fucking gross_." He let Stefan kiss him. That is just wrong. But it'll be worth it when Stefan is pissed off after realizing he won't really be having sex with Elena tonight.

* * *

Elena heard talk of her body's appearance before she got a glimpse at it. She was sitting in class first period when the girl in front of Damon's back row seat asked the girl next to her, "Have you seen Elena Gilbert today? Skank alert!"

Elena straightens up, listening for the other girl's response, "I know! What is she thinking?"

Elena has to admit, she's feeling a bit nervous. Maybe Damon was serious when he declared war with her last night. Maybe him ignoring her text this morning was more than just him being too busy too reply. Maybe she's a very stupid, naive girl...

Damon walks in the room and Elena swears her jaw drops to the desk. _No. Fucking. Way_! What did Damon do to her skirt? What did he do to her hair? Her Face? Her _boobs_?! Seriously, did he stuff her bra; her boobs look _huge_ today! That's not the point! Damon has completely humiliated her. He's destroyed her good girl, squeaky clean image with just one outfit. No one will ever look at her the same after seeing her in so little clothing. How could he do this to her?

The worst part is when Damon meets Elena's eyes and quirks an eyebrow at her, almost saying, 'I told you so'. She feels the tears well up in her eyes, and she realizes that ironically, she's broken one of Damon's rules. But instead of staying in class and crying for all to see, Elena grabs her things and runs out. Maybe that should clue Damon in that she doesn't want to be a part of this idiotic 'prank war', or whatever the hell this is! She hides out in one of the boys' bathrooms for all of first period, not wanting to see Damon strutting around in her body like a fucking stripper. When the bell rings for second period, she's still feeling shitty, so she decides to skip math too. She doesn't know if Damon will consider her skipping his class retaliation for his slut costume, but does it even matter? All she can hope now is that someone sends him home for breaking the school's dress code.

Unfortunately, it looks like Elena is so consistently well-behaved that this one act of misconduct isn't enough to be sent home. Lucky for Damon. He's still traipsing around in the harlot get-up at lunch. Elena rolls her eyes at the sight of Damon flirting shamelessly with her body in line. He purposely drops a straw and bends to pick it up, exposing Elena's bare butt cheeks. Stefan doesn't have lunch this period, so he isn't witnessing this first-hand, but he'll certainly hear about it. Gossip in high school these days is as easy as sending one mass-text. If Damon keeps this up, she won't have a boyfriend by this afternoon.

After Elena takes a seat with Klaus, purposely sitting with a view of Damon, she watches her body like a hawk. Damon stops flirting and begins stuffing Elena's mouth with French fries covered in mayonnaise. Elena doesn't even like mayonnaise; it repulses her. She can't even watch without wanting to be sick.

"What are you staring at?" Klaus demands, turning around to see 'Elena' squirting mayonnaise into her mouth straight from the bottle.

"A train-wreck," Elena mumbles into the palm of her hand.

"What the, has the Gilbert girl gone mad?" Klaus asks, returning his gaze to Damon. He laughs and comments, "Never would've guessed she'd have a crazy streak. Maybe I misjudged her. She might be a lot of fun..." He turns back again to look at Elena, who now has mayo all of her lips and fingers. Klaus shrugs, "I could do without the condiments, though."

Elena abandons her lunch and runs to the nearest bathroom, tears clouding her vision for the second time today. It wasn't bad enough to make her look like a slut, but he really had to make her out to be a complete pig too?! When is he going to be done having fun with this situation? Elena blows her nose angrily into a wad of toilet paper. She exits the stall and checks out Damon's appearance in the mirror. He looks perfectly fine; normal, even. She did laundry last night, and made an effort to dress like Damon this morning. She scowls angrily at the reflection of the boy she can't stand and walks towards the bathroom door.

On her way out, a boy whose name she doesn't know enters the bathroom and steps up to a urinal to pee. Elena gets an idea...She waits for him to drop his pants, and then leans over his shoulder for a peek. She smiles appreciatively and comments, "Wow, nice penis!"

The guy looks back at her in horror and she shrugs before exiting the restroom. _Let's see how Damon likes rumors being spread about him being gay, _Elena thinks with the tiniest of smirks.

* * *

By P.E., Damon had heard that he's become somewhat of a Peeping Tom in the bathroom. Well, don't have to pull his leg to get him to play _that_ game. After tennis is over, Damon takes full advantage of the shower time, choosing a spot smack dab in the middle of his female classmates so he can check all of them out. _This is like being in heaven,_ he muses. There are boobs everywhere. Big ones, small ones, familiar ones...but he has to say, Elena's might be the nicest of them all.

**Whoa!** Damon closes his eyes in fright when a naked beast crosses his vision. Wait, that's not a beast. That's one of Damon's classmates. She sure looks beastly though. Damon can't tell where her ass ends and her tits begin. Wait, that doesn't make sense...

When she turns and Damon finally spots her ass, he thinks, _This just has to be done._ And then he towel-whips her pasty, cottage-cheese ass.

That was a pretty stupid thing to do. Beast screamed. Teacher ran in. Elena got detention. Damon doesn't see the problem in this; except, maybe, that he has to be the one to serve the detention. Still, it's not going on his permanent record.

At the end of the day, Damon finally comes face-to-face with Elena, er...himself with Elena's brain. She looks un-happy, but not as miserable as he thought she'd be looking. Maybe because she's got his face to hide her pain behind.

"What's up?" Damon greets casually.

Elena sighs without meeting Damon's eyes and says, "Thanks, by the way, for dressing me up like a common, cheap whore."

"Damn, I was going for high-class hooker," Damon says with a snap of his fingers.

"I'm surprised they allowed you in school looking like this," Elena admits. "I thought you'd at least get detention."

"Oh, I did," Damon smiles proudly. "But not because of the clothes."

"What?" Elena blurts out in surprise, before covering up her annoyance. If she lets him know how much everything he's doing is bothering her, he'll only try ten times harder. She's starting to understand that, at least.

Elena suddenly hears Rebekah's voice past Damon's shoulder...she's talking about _her_. "...So now she thinks she's pretty or something?Ha! I don't think so, honey. You just look like a desperate slutbag," She says to her friends, and they both agree.

Elena glares at Damon before stating, "Good for you. I have to go...do something." She takes a deep breath, confirming she's really going to do this; she's going to break Damon's most important rule.

"Hey...Rebekah," Elena waves and informs, "I have something to tell you."

Rebekah tosses her blonde hair over her shoulder and sends a knowing look in her friends' direction. She blinks her blue eyes at Damon and says with her usual attitude, "Let me guess: you're sorry about blowing me off."

"No." Elena says bluntly, "Actually, I wanted to tell you I can't see you anymore."

"Very funny, Damon," Rebekah rolls her eyes.

Elena continues as if Rebekah hadn't said that, "I just don't find you that attractive anymore. You're so..." She pauses, taking pleasure in the shocked look on the blonde's face, "_plain_. I don't know why I didn't notice sooner..." She shrugs her shoulders indifferently in a Damon-like fashion. Then she adds, "Oh, and don't worry about that moustache. Some guys are _really_ into that shit." She turns and walks away, purposely taking the route past Damon to glare at him once more before searching the parking lot for Klaus.

"What-what was _that_?!" Damon stutters disbelievingly, eyes wide and serious. She didn't just do what he thought she just did, did she?

"Looks like you and your girlfriend broke up," Elena says nonchalantly, not even slowing her pace in the direction of the parking lot.

She hears Rebekah yell after her, "Fuck you, Damon Salvatore!"

Damon follows closely after Elena, demanding to know, "What? No! Why would you do that?"

Elena shakes her head at him, unimpressed at his concept of what is and what isn't an acceptable line to cross in this so-called 'war' he's declared. Was it not allowed for her to break-up with Rebekah? Because she thought the guitar was the most important thing to him. Was she wrong? If _she_ had any say in the rules, she'd have said Damon crossed the line when he got dressed this morning. 'All is fair in love and war', is that not true? Elena believes it is.

Without looking back, she says, "You'll get over it."

"Yeah?" Damon threatens, "Well, tonight I'm going to do something that you never would. Let's just say it's going to be a _very_ big night for you. And before you ask, I don't think I will do it with Stefan. I think I'll do it with someone a little..._bigger_. And then I'll let Stefan figure it out all on his own. I'm sure he won't want you after that."

Elena spins back around to face Damon. "Yeah fucking right. You wouldn't." Elena doesn't believe Damon would actually sleep with a guy. He might be in a female body, but that would still be really weird. _Like really, really weird! _

"Oh, I would," Damon says firmly. "Sex is just sex to me, Elena."

"Well it's not to me!" Elena whisper-yells at him, wishing she could grab him and slap him, but since he's the one in the female body and she in the male, that's impossible. "It's not just something I would go around doing with just anybody. It's supposed to be special; it's supposed to _mean _something!"

Damon spits her words back at her, "You'll get over it, Elena!"

"You're disgusting," She whispers before walking away quickly. She has never hated someone more in her life. Damon is one-hundred percent shameless. He doesn't regret or feel bad about what he's done to her. Elena can't comprehend how he could harbor such awful feelings for her and never act out on them until today. She knows they've never been _friends_ or anything, and that they argue like cats and dogs, but she didn't think he truly hated her. Now she sees that he has to hate her, because how could you do such horrible things to someone you didn't hate? Elena couldn't.

She scans the half-empty parking lot for Klaus' Mustang, but doesn't see it. Oh well. He probably didn't feel like waiting around on a Friday after school hours. Not to mention he's a little peeved that 'Damon' broke his guitar and therefore can't play in the band until he buys a new one. That could be the real reason Klaus didn't wait around for Damon to get to his car. Elena sighs and wonders how she's going to get home now. She's not going to wait around for Damon to get out of detention and ask him to bring her home. They're kind of in the middle of a war, and somehow Elena thinks that would be breaking unspoken rules.

Suddenly, Bonnie walks out of a side exit and heads in the direction of her vehicle. Elena's eyes light up for the first time all day. _Bonnie! _It's Friday, and Damon said if they haven't figured anything out by the end of the week, she was free to ask Bonnie anything she wanted.

"Bonnie! Hey, Bonnie, wait up!" Elena calls, picking up the pace to catch Bonnie before she got inside her car.

"Damon," Bonnie greets unenthusiastically, "Hi. What do you want? Again?"

Elena wants to laugh at the creeped out expressed on her best friend's face, wants to hug her and tell her she's missed her the past three days, and she hates being trapped in this dumb man body. She puts on the most genuine smile she can muster, this being _Damon's _face and all, and reminds, "Remember what I was telling you the other day? Well, about me and Elena?"

"Uh, yeah," Bonnie says with a frown, "But I thought you and Elena talked, and everything is fine…right?"

"No, not really," Elena insists, "Bonnie, did you _see_ her today?"

Bonnie's frown deepens as she confirms, "I did. And I really don't know what to say about her…er…behavior. It's weird, but I don't think it has anything to do with you." She raises an eyebrow, "Does it?"

"It has everything to do with me," Elena explains, _Because I am the real Elena Gilbert, and that slut is just Damon Salvatore wearing my skin! _But when Elena opens her mouth to tell Bonnie just that, nothing comes out. She tries again, _Bonnie, you have to help, some kind of witchy, voodoo magic has swapped my brain and Damon's, and I have no idea how to get back in my own body! _Still, nothing comes out.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie asks nervously. "You're sorta freaking me out…"

"I'm sorry," Elena sighs, staring down at Damon's stupid black sneakers with the too-long laces. "I'm sorry for bothering you again Bonnie. I just…I just thought you could help, since your Grams always said your family are descendants of Salem witches," she mumbles, "So maybe, just maybe, you might be able to help us."

She turns slowly and starts to walk away, but Bonnie stops her with a question. "What did you just say?" Bonnie watches Damon turn back to her, blue eyes wide and questioning. For a moment, it _does_ look like her best friend trapped in Damon Salvatore's body. "How did you know about my ancestors? Did Elena tell you that?"

Elena shakes her head, suddenly hoping that this is her loop-hole! She can't directly tell Bonnie what happened to her and Damon, but she can try and help her figure it out! "No, you did." _Because I'm Elena! And you're my best friend! Come on, Bonnie, figure this out! _

Bonnie blinks a few times and then slowly nods. "Okay…" She studies Damon's face for a long moment before stating, "Look Damon, I don't know what is going on with you and Elena. I'll admit that this is weird and unusual. Both of you are being weird and unusual, but…I don't know what it is you think I can do."

Elena bites her lip and blinks back tears. She can't blame Bonnie for being unable to help. It was a shot in the dark to think that she'd know how their bodies were switched. Bonnie may or may not be directly descended from the witches of Salem, but even so, that doesn't mean she has the power to lift the curse off Damon and Elena. Elena swallows thickly and nods, "Okay. It's okay."

At the last second, Bonnie offers, "I'll talk to my Grams, okay? I'll see what she says."

Elena grabs Bonnie's hand and squeezes it lightly, telling her sweetly, "Thank you, Bonnie. Thank you, so much!" Bonnie smiles strangely before climbing into her car and taking off.

Elena walks until she sees Stefan sitting in his car. She knows he and Damon aren't close, like she and Jeremy are, but she does need a ride home. It's worth asking…

"Hey Stefan," Elena greets casually as she leans against the side of the car.

Stefan looks over and rolls his green eyes before replying in a bored tone, "Hey."

"What are you still doing here?"

"Waiting to see what's taking Elena so long," Stefan says impatiently.

"She has detention," Elena fills in, before realizing Stefan is probably going to be suspicious as to why Damon knows the whereabouts of his girlfriend. "I saw her go in the Auditorium."

"Why are you keeping tabs on Elena, Damon?" Stefan demands.

"I'm not," Elena denies, "I don't have any reason to."

"Yeah, sure," Stefan says with another eye roll. Elena is starting to see just how little he can stand to be in the presence of his step-brother. She wonders why they can't get along.

"Do you think you could bring me home?" Elena asks, deciding to just go for it. "Klaus kinda left without me."

"I kinda don't blame him," Stefan mocks. "Whatever. Let's go."

Elena smiles hopefully before climbing in the passenger seat. For the first time all week, she's in a spot she's used to being in. She's not used to Stefan giving her the silent treatment the whole care ride home, but she is used to sitting by his side and spending time with him. "So…" Elena says, wanting to break the silence, "What are you doing-"

"**No**." Stefan talks over his brother loudly, "No talking. I'm already letting you sit in my car. The least you can do is sit there quietly."

Elena abruptly closes her mouth and looks out the window, feeling dejected. Stefan doesn't even want to talk to her. _Being Damon sucks_.

At the Salvatore home, Elena takes a carton of chocolate fudge brownie ice cream upstairs to Damon's room, flops down on the bed in front of the television, and drowns her sorrows in the ice cream. Damon is taking full-advantage of being in her body, and she's not happy about it one bit. At least she can still watch fluffy romantic comedies and eat ice cream when she's depressed, same as in her own body. Chocolate fudge brownie ice cream is not her ice cream of choice, but it is ice cream and there's chocolate in it, so she's not complaining. Maybe Bonnie will talk to her Grams and she'll figure something out, and by Monday Elena will be back in her own body…or maybe Bonnie won't figure anything out. What if Elena is stuck like this forever? What will she do then?

Elena starts to cry and shoves a huge spoonful of gooey brownie covered in fudge into her mouth. She flips through the channels on the TV until she comes across Freaky Friday, with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. She sobs at the irony of it all and comments through a mouthful of ice cream, "That is just so fucked up!" If only she'd been magically swapped into her mom's body. That would be weird and annoying still, but definitely not as messed up as being thrown into Damon's body. Freaky Friday doesn't have to get into the awkwardness of waking up with morning wood or learning to pee with a penis. That probably wouldn't be Disney-appropriate. Ah well…she can only hope she and Damon will magically get their bodies back after a week, or so. That's how it was in the movie, at least.

Deciding to end her torture, she switches to a different movie, and tries to forget about the threat Damon made before she left school this afternoon. She still has a hard time believing he'd actually go through with sleeping with someone while in her body. There's no way he'll let a guy put a penis inside him, even if the vagina is there right now. In his mind, he's still used to having sex with a _penis_. Elena can't think about what sex would be like as a man…it's too weird. But, is it too weird for Damon? Maybe he'll think of this as an opportunity to experience something he'd otherwise never get the chance to do.

"Oh my God," Elena gasps miserably, "He's really gonna _do it_!"

* * *

**Follow or Review! **Or both:) Do you think Damon is really going to sleep with someone while in Elena's body? Do you _want_ him to?

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	5. Chapter 5 No Means No

**HI:) **I've been waiting to write this chapter...hehe...I hope you guys think it's as funny as I do. This part is not in the movie, although parts of it are. Your feedback is always appreciated! Thanks to the new followers and favorites:)

**Special Thanks: **MelissaSomerhalder, DeeReadinQueen, curiouswriter, vivianafrancesca, kaybaby1127, and fashionista1988 for reviewing! *Hugs* :)

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 5. No Means No**

While in detention, Damon contemplates his choices of who he could go to that would sleep with Elena with no questions asked, and then brag about it to everyone he knows afterwards...This is purely for revenge. Damon isn't even thinking of the actual _act_ of sex, but the payback he's getting on Elena for breaking up with Rebekah. She'll never be able to top him taking her virginity away from her. Not only that, but she'll be losing Stefan, too. It's the perfect revenge. Elena will be begging for mercy in the morning.

The problem is, he can't think of anyone. Every male possibility he considers he ends up turning down for some reason or another. He's sure he could get Klaus to sleep with Elena, and that would piss Stefan off, but he'd never be able to look at Klaus in the face again. So if it can't be a friend, then it has to be someone he's not friends with..._But who?_

"All right delinquents," Mr. Tanner announces, "You are free to go. It may be asking too much of you, but try and stay out of trouble."

Damon rolls his eyes, gathers up his things, and heads for the exit door.

"Hey, Elena," Tyler greets with a flirtatious grin as he crosses paths with Elena, "What's up? You look...really hot today."

_Hmm.._.Damon ponders, _Tyler Lockwood. It could work._ Stefan and Tyler are rivals on the football team, and he's showing obvious interest in Elena's new look. It would make Stefan almost as mad to find out Elena slept with Tyler as it would if he learned it were Damon.

"Why, thank you, Tyler," Damon returns the smile and bats Elena's long, thick eyelashes in his direction.

"You are welcome," Tyler winks. "So what did Stefan think about it?"

"He wasn't thrilled, but I'm just trying to have some fun," Damon says with a mischievous smirk that is not very Elena-like.

"Yeah, Stefan is so..." Tyler tries to play it cool.

"Boring?" Damon fills in.

Tyler laughs, clearly surprised at that answer. "Whoa, tell me how you really feel!"

Damon giggles and squeezes Tyler's forearm. He asks in a foreward manner, "Hey, what are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing yet," Tyler replies. "Did you want to do something?"

"Yes," Damon replies, thinking to himself, _Hook. Line. Sinker. That was easy. _"How about I come over your place? Nine o'clock?"

Tyler blinks a few times, unsure how to answer at first, but after his brain has time to digest what just happened...Elena Gilbert wants to come over! He quickly agrees, "That sounds perfect. And it's our lucky night; my parents are away for the weekend." He knows Elena is with Stefan, but he's not stupid. She's sending him signals, and he's reading them loud and clear. If Stefan isn't giving her something, and she wants to get it from Tyler, he is all over that.

Damon grins like a cheshire cat. "That is perfect."

'Elena' and Tyler split off at the parking lot, Tyler getting into his car, and Elena in hers. Damon wonders for a moment what Elena is doing in his body right now, but then he pushes the thought aside. He has to get home and figure out what to wear to Tyler's later. And sneak some alcohol so he can get a little buzz on first. There's no way he'll be doing this sober. He hopes he won't run into Stefan right away...and reminds himself to think of an excuse for why they can no longer hang out. He almost forgot he promised Stefan sex tonight, too. That was never going to happen, though. He'll just have to lie and tell Stefan he's still feeling sick.

At the Gilbert house, Jeremy warns his sister upon her arrival, "Mom's going to be home soon. You better change out of...that."

"Thanks little bro," Damon mutters as he runs past Jeremy up the stairs and into Elena's bedroom. He starts looking in the closet for something to wear on the night Elena Gilbert loses her virginity.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the house next door, Elena had just finished the whole tub of chocolate fudge brownie ice cream, and completed one full romantic comedy. Unfortunately, in her state of mind she wasn't finding the comedy part very funny. And the romance part was just sad because she was in the same house as her boyfriend this very minute and could do nothing about it, being stuck in the body of his loathesome step-brother. She decides it's time for dinner, preferrably something carb-filled, and then more ice cream. Or brownies. Or cookie dough. Mmm, anything to stuff in her mouth that is sweet and will help her forget her sad, pathetic life...

Downstairs, Elena is relieved to find Stefan is not home anymore, and Giuseppe is still at work. Only Isobel is home, also in the kitchen scouring for food. She ignores Damon's presence at first, but soon takes notice to his unusually mopey and depressed mood.

"Is something wrong, Damon?" Isobel asks, hoping not to be snapped at by her step-son.

Elena isn't sure of Damon's relationship with his step-mother, but she knows Stefan dislikes him, and Giuseppe is obviously not too fond of his son, so she assumes Isobel feels the same. Does she really care if something is wrong with Damon, or is she only making conversation because it is awkward to be in the same room and say nothing? Elena sighs, "It's nothing. There's nothing to eat."

Isobel doesn't believe the answer, but she smiles and agrees, "I was just saying the same thing to myself. Want to order a pizza? I was going to ask Stefan, but he went out." She opens the drawer beneath the microwave for the stack of take-out menus.

Elena looks through them and suggests, "Ooh, what about Italian? I could go for some stuffed shells with meatballs and Italian bread...and chocolate cake for dessert."

Isobel laughs and teases, "Are you on your period, Damon?"

Elena realizes it is something she'd choose when close to her period, or depressed, which is why she is currently craving these comfort foods. "No..." Elena admits, "Today sucked." Isobel cocks her head to the side questioningly, "I broke up with my girlfriend. And, yesterday I broke my guitar. I'm not having a good week."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Isobel says genuinely. "That does sound like a pretty shitty week." She stares curiously at Damon, wondering if she's been wrong about him. Maybe he's always so moody and indifferent because Giuseppe and Stefan treat him like the odd one in the family. She should never have allowed the rivalry between Stefan and Damon go on for so long. "Let's order Italian. They have cheesecake too. What do you think? Should I get two slices of each?"

"Cheesecake? Yes, oh yes," Elena's eyes widen and she smiles back at Isobel. _I love this woman!_ Elena thinks, _She's almost like my mom, but cooler._

After placing the order, Isobel sits down at the kitchen table with Damon, and asks him what happened with his girlfriend. She used to have talks with Stefan about things like this all the time, but lately Stefan hasn't wanted to talk to his mom about his problems. She hadn't realized how much she missed it until Damon opened up to her. After hearing the Elena-fied version of the story, Isobel asks curiously, "Well if you broke up with her because you didn't feel that it was right, why are you feeling so miserable over it?"

Elena talked herself into a trap with that one. "I don't know. I guess I'm just confused."

"Guess so." Isobel, being a pyschologist, suggests, "You'll figure it out in time. Don't rush it. I think a lot of times teenagers feel like they have to have their whole life mapped out before the end of their Senior Year of high school, but it's not true. You have plenty of time. Everything will fall into place."

Elena wonders what advice Isobel would be giving if she knew the _real_ problem Elena is having. She'd probably just think Damon was crazy, which might not necessarily be a bad thing. He kind of deserves it after everything he's put her through today.

Stefan arrives before the food, effectively ruining the relaxing atmosphere. He seems a bit jealous seeing Damon spend time with his mom. By the time the delivery guy shows up, Elena is ready to go back upstairs. She takes her food and dessert upstairs and locks herself back inside Damon's room. She really is starting to resent the way Stefan is treating her, and hopes to be out of Damon's body soon because it's hard seeing someone she possibly _loves_ look at her with such hate-filled eyes. Elena resumes stuffing her face and watching miserable, romantic movies until she's ready to go to bed.

* * *

At promptly 9 o'clock, Damon arrives at the Lockwood household in an itty bitty, black dress. He couldn't find any alcohol at the Gilbert house to snatch, so he's really anxious for Tyler to answer and pour him a damn drink. Now that he's...here...he's finding that he's a little nervous. But he's not backing down. No way. Elena deserves this.

"Hey," Tyler smiles as he answers the door. He appears to have just gotten out of the shower, freshly shaven, and smelling strongly of cologne. "Come on in."

"Thanks," Damon says, following Tyler into the living room. Getting right to the point, Damon asks, "Do you have anything to drink?"

"Of course," Tyler says with a confident smile, "Come take a look."

Damon chooses something strong, and insists on mixing it himself. He gulps it down quickly and pours another.

"Wow," Tyler compliments, "I've never seen a chick drink like that before. You're something else, Elena." He stalks over to the couch Damon perched on, almost like a tiger to its prey, and sits down close. He drapes an arm over Elena's bare shoulder.

Damon laughs nervously, "That I am..." He takes a long gulp, relishing in the burning sensation the alcohol makes as it slides down his throat. He hopes it sets in with the numbing feeling soon.

"I blew off Caroline tonight," Tyler reveals, "Just to hang out with you."

Caroline? Damon has no idea what Tyler is talking about. Is he with Caroline? Wait, no fucking way. That's just priceless. Tyler is not only a rival of Stefan, but dating Caroline, one of Elena's best friends? And he's _still_ trying to get with Elena? He's got some nerve...Then again, Damon seduced the entire student body with that outfit today, and Tyler is a hormonal teenage boy. It doesn't take much to talk them into doing something stupid. They have a good enough time getting themselves into trouble without the help of someone else's influence.

While Damon is still trying to figure out the situation he's gotten himself - well, _**Elena**_- into, Tyler swoops in to make the first move. He places kisses on Elena's neck, trailing his way up to her jaw, and her cheek, and then her lips. Damon tastes the vodka on Tyler's tongue as he pokes his tongue into Elena's mouth. Damon instinctively pushes him away.

"What's wrong?" Tyler asks, craving more of Elena's sweet lips, and dying to touch her body...

"I-I..." Damon stutters, "I just don't think we should do this...here."

"Okay," Tyler nods, "Yeah, uh, let's go up to the master bedroom." He waggles his eyebrows in what he thinks is a seductive manner, before scooping Elena up and carrying her to the stairs. Once in the master bedroom, which is clearly Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood's room, he places Elena on the bed and pulls off his shirt in one elaborate motion.

Damon scans Tyler's chest disinterestedly. He's relieved Tyler didn't rip his pants off yet. Damon doesn't know if he can do this. Just seeing a little bit of skin is making him think to the next step, and the next step, and oh God, he's going to be sick. _What am I doing? _He thinks to himself as Tyler runs his hands up Elena's body, squeezing her breasts through the tight black dress, _This is so gay_!

Tyler reaches around Elena's shoulders to the zipper on the back of the dress. "Let's take this off...Need some help?"

As Tyler leans against him, Damon can feel Tyler's hard-on pressing into his side. Damon jerks away from Tyler's body from the contact yet again. This time he exclaims, "Shit! I-I have to pee."

"Right _now?_" Tyler asks, obviously a bit annoyed.

"Yeah," Damon insists, pushing Tyler even further away from him, "Yeah, I can feel it, I have to go _now._" He gets up from the bed and starts towards the door, "So you can just...get undressed, and-and...don't start without me. I'll be right back."

He flashes a hopefully-convincing smile in Tyler's direction before bolting down the hallway, hopping down the stairs two at a time, and flinging open the door. He hears Tyler yell, "Hey, Elena! Where are you going?" But he doesn't listen. He keeps running until he reaches the driver's side door of Elena's car. He is **not** letting Tyler Lockwood fuck him tonight, Elena's body or not. It's just not happening. He doesn't know why he thought he could ever let a dude get it on with him in this chick body. It's still his mind! And his mind is most definitely not turned on by penises and man chests and-and all that homosexual business. This was a bad idea. Damon speeds away from the Lockwood residence, wishing to _never_ speak of this night again.

The weird thing is, that no matter how much he'd like to not think about it, he **can't.** Even after he changes into pajamas and climbs into bed with the TV on, he's still thinking about how he almost slept with Tyler Lockwood to get revenge on Elena. That would've been the worst thing he's ever done. There. He admitted it to himself. Maybe now he'll be able to let it go. It's not like people expect much more out of him. But that's exactly it. It's not _his _reputation; it's Elena's reputation. Elena would never do something so self-destructive. What would she gain from sleeping with Tyler Lockwood? Absolutely nothing. She'd be losing much more than it's worth. She'd lose Stefan and Caroline.

* * *

At nearly four in the morning, Elena is fast asleep in Damon's bed, having a very _good_ dream. In it, she's in her own body, no recollection of the traumatizing Damon-body-swap experience. She is with Stefan, who is as suave and handsome as always, and he's just gotten through with telling her how much he loves her. Elena couldn't be happier to hear it, and she confesses that she loves him too. Stefan kisses her romantically, sweeping her off her feet and carrying her bridal-style to his bedroom. He gently lowers her to the bed, lips still suctioned firmly on hers, his tongue mixing magically with her own. Elena is in heaven.

Stefan's hands feel like electric sparks running across her skin. Soon, her shirt is on the floor, followed close by his, and then their pants. He unhooks her bra and peels off her panties, stationing himself between her legs and assuring her he's going to make her feel amazing. She believes him. He lowers his lips to her skin, kissing her lightly on her inner thighs. He keeps teasing her until she is begging for him to put his mouth exactly where she wants it.

Right when he's about to place his tongue to her clit, she hears something...

"That's it, baby, I knew you wanted me."

_That didn't sound like Stefan,_ Elena notes subconsciously. No. It didn't. It sounded like a _female_ voice.

When Stefan's tongue begins to swirl around her clitoris, she notices it doesn't feel like she thought it was going to. It feels different...

"Mmm, yeah baby, you're so hard for me."

_Hard? Strange female voice say what? _Elena can feel her mind start to pull free from the dream. Stefan doesn't seem as real or feel as real as he did before the ominous voice interrupted her dream. She isn't entirely awake, but she can feel her senses coming to. She recalls that she is in Damon's body, can tell now that this body isn't hers. She feels the warmth of the blankets over her legs, but her middle and chest feel cool. Did she fall asleep without a shirt on? No...

Suddenly, she feels a tug...like a _tug_ on her...nether region. Another constricting squeeze has an involuntary moan pushing its way up Elena's throat. Her sex dream just turned into a _real-life_ sexual act, **in Damon's body!**

"Ugh, Damon, you're so sexy."

Elena's heart begins beating erratically at the realization of what is happening. Somehow, _Rebekah _found her way into Damon's room, into Damon's _bed_, and is groping him in his sleep. Elena starts breathing heavily, and Rebekah takes this as a sign that Damon is really liking what she's doing. It's the exact reaction she was hoping for when she climbed in through his bedroom window after a night of drinking, determined to make him beg for her forgiveness. Rebekah removes her hand from Damon's rock hard member, and Elena is hopeful that Rebekah has given up and is leaving, but Rebekah has other thoughts on her mind. She replaces her hand with her lips, sucking on the tip of Damon's dick, just how he likes it.

Elena's eyes open wide in shock and she reaches out with both hands to grasp the back of Rebekah's head. "Re-be-kah!" She grunts, hating that Damon's stupid body is reacting as if it is still Damon-inhabited. She tries to ask in a steady voice, but it comes out breathy and weak, "What are you doing?"

Rebekah pulls her lips away with a **pop** and smirks up at Damon, "I'm showing you what you'll be missing if you really break up with me, baby." She flicks her tongue across the sensitive tip of Damon's penis head. "Just sit back and enjoy." She assaults Damon's dick with her mouth once more.

Elena sucks in a breath and bites her lips to keep the moan from creeping up her throat. She is not going to give Rebekah the reaction she wants. And she is _not_ going to let this go any further. It's weird enough that she was just dreaming about having sex with Stefan; now she's got Rebekah attempting to rape her in Damon's body. And if Rebekah being completely naked on the bed isn't a clear indication that she's intending to take it that far, Elena isn't sure what is.

"No," Elena groans, "No-no, Rebekah. You can't do this."

"Shut up, Damon," Rebekah growls. "You are _not_ breaking up with me. You want me. Don't tell me you don't." She crawls up Damon's body, fingernails clawing at the skin on his muscular chest. She presses her naked breasts against his chest as she kisses the sensitive spot beneath his ear.

Elena shakes her head back and forth desperately as Rebekah leans in and covers her mouth over Damon's lips. At the same moment, Elena feels Rebekah's body grinding on his, her hot core way too close to Damon's penis that Elena is anywhere near comfortable with. Elena is so disoriented, like in her mind, she is thinking, _What the fuck is going on right now? Oh my God! I'm a chick! I don't want to have sex with another chick with __**Damon's **__tool! _She gives Rebekah one hard shove to get her off, not meaning to push her so hard, but the action sends her to the floor.

"Rebekah!" Elena shouts, turning over to make sure the blonde girl is all right, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, but I-I...I really can't do this. I'm not-"

"Save it!" Rebekah screeches angrily, picking herself up off the floor and glaring at Damon. "You lost your chance, Damon Salvatore." She pulls on her clothes as she angrily chews him out, "I can't believe I came over here to give you another chance! Ha! Like you deserve it? You never even deserved to be with me in the first place. I am _so_ much better than you. Just remember this, Damon, just remember what you missed out on." She motions towards her perfect C-cup breasts, "All of _this!" _She pulls on her shirt, flips Damon off, and climbs out the window and down the tree, same way she entered. She yells one last thing to Damon when she gets to the ground, "And your dick isn't even that big! So screw you! **Screw you!**"

* * *

Damon wakes up to the sound of Rebekah yelling. He would recognize her voice anywhere. He sits up with a start and looks around before remembering he's in Elena's body and in Elena's room. He gets up and walks over to the window, looking down to see Rebekah's blonde head moving quickly towards her white SUV in the dark. What was she doing over here? Did she just climb out of the window of his room?

Unable to go back to sleep before getting an answer, Damon picks up Elena's phone from the nightstand and sends a text. **Was that Rebekah leaving just now...?**

Not even ten seconds later, Elena responds: **Fuck off and die, Damon.**

Damon blinks at the phone in surprise. He was definitely not expecting Elena to answer so harshly. Although, he shouldn't be expecting her to treat him like everything is sunshine and roses between them. He just ruined her life yesterday at school, and vice versa. But what made her so mad now...? He thinks about it before wondering if Rebekah may have just been trying to make an early morning booty call out of him. That is something that she used to do, back when they were together still, and he was in his body and has his proper junk. Now that 'he' broke up with her, she wouldn't come over for sex. Maybe she came over to kill him in his sleep? She didn't succeed...

Out of curiousity, he sends another text to Elena: **Come on, what happened?**

Damon waits ten minutes for an answer, but no reply comes. Damon stares across the space between the Gilbert house and his, and tries to search for signs of movement in his room. There is none. The lights are all off, the TV is off, and it's pitch black. Damon stomps his feet impatiently. What is she doing? Why is she not answering him?

He sends another text: **Elena?**

When she doesn't answer, and twenty minutes go by, Damon decides to do something drastic. He slips into sneakers and opens up Elena's window. The tree Rebekah used to climb into his room is one he's used many, many times as an entrance/escape from his room. He's never used it to swing from his house to Elena's, but how hard can it be? Damon takes a good hold of two sturdy branches, swings forward, and jumps. The tree shakes and groans as the weight of Elena's body pressures the branches, but it holds, and he makes it to the next house. He slides the window up and jumps inside, landing with a thud on his knees.

Elena had been trying to get back to sleep, after literally wanting to crawl out of her skin at the thought of what just ocurred between herself and Rebekah Mikaelson. The last thing she wants is to talk to _Damon_ about it. She sees a body fall gracelessly through the window and she sits up quickly, pulling the blankets up to her chin in case its Rebekah again, not wanting to take 'no' for an answer.

"Why didn't you text me back?" Her own voice asks accusingly from floor.

"Damon?" Elena groans, flicking on the lamp next to the bed. It fills the room in a glow of light and reveals her body dressed in floral printed pajamas, hair rumpled in places like Damon just woke up. "What are you doing?"

"Why was Rebekah here?" Damon asks, ignoring Elena's question since it's obvious why he's here. He wants to know what the fuck is going on. Why does she look pale as a ghost? Why is she so jumpy? Why won't she look him in the eyes?

"I thought I told you to fuck off?" Elena replies, also ignoring Damon's questions. Isn't it obvious she doesn't want to talk about it? She just wants to go back to sleep! _For the rest of the weekend!_

Damon sighs, hopping on the bed beside Elena. She shifts away from him and grimaces. "What the Hell is wrong with you?"

Elena turns away from Damon and closes her eyes, wishing she could make him go away. That, or give her back her body so that _she_ can go away! "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well _I _do!" Damon pushes, tugging on Elena's shoulder until she turns back over to face him.

"Your girlfriend raped me," Elena admits bitterly. "I'm going to throw up."

Damon can't help the laugh that sneaks out of his mouth. He asks disbelievingly, "What do you mean she raped you? Like she...she actually-"

"Yeah, she actually came in here and touched me while I was sleeping! I told her to stop and she didn't," Elena repeats impatiently. "And if you want any more details, you can ask her about it yourself! Now go away!"

Normally, Damon thinks he'd laugh hysterically that Elena is freaking out, but after a similar experience with Tyler Lockwood, he understands how she feels completely. He pokes her again and says, "So she didn't actually _rape_ you then? Because you shouldn't say that seriously if you don't mean it..."

"Shut up! I knew you'd make a joke out of this," Elena rolls her eyes impatiently. "_Molested _then, okay? Better? I'm not giving you details, but I woke up and she was _naked _and she-she was about to...do it. So I pushed her, and she kinda fell of the bed. And left. Thank God."

"You pushed her out of the bed?" Damon repeats, still not believing what he's hearing.

"How many times do I have to ask you to go away before you listen?" Elena asks. "I hate you. I don't want to be near you. I can't wait for Bonnie to talk to her Grams so she can fix this and I never have to speak to you again. I-"

"Wait, what did you say?" Damon interrupts.

"You said I could talk to Bonnie if we didn't figure anything out, and since you'll probably find some way for her to hate me soon, I decided to do it today," Elena answers, glaring at Damon every second she has to look at him. "I couldn't actually say anything about how we switched bodies or whatever, must be some dumb side-effect of this...whatever this is. We can't talk about it except to each other. How fucking helpful."

"Get to the point, mouthy," Damon pesters impatiently.

"I think Bonnie kind of believed me after I said something about her Grams, and she said she'd talk to her," Elena elaborates, "Her Grams is sort of a witch, so she says."

"And you believe that?"

"I didn't believe I'd ever be inside of your body, but I _am_, so I'll believe anything that gets us out of this." Elena looks at Damon coldly, "Now, can you please go away? I want to go back to sleep and forget that you exist."

"You're such a bitch," Damon insults.

"I'm a bitch?" Elena asks incredulously. "What the fuck are you then, Damon? You ruined my life. You made me look like a stupid slut. I can never show my face at school and expect to be taken seriously again. And what you did tonight was the worst thing of all. I can't believe you'd do that."

"You ruined my life too," Damon counters. "You broke my guitar!"

Elena is sick of him throwing that in her face when he never let her explain, so she talks over him, "That was an accident! I said I'm sorry; I meant it! I said I'd buy you a new one."

"You made everyone start to question my sexuality, and then you broke up with Rebekah. So..."

Elena realizes he's never going to see it her way. He's never going to understand how much he truly hurt her, how much her life is going to suck after this. It will never be the same. His problems are easily fixable. But he doesn't think so. She tries to hide the fact that she's going to cry by pressing her face into the pillow under her head. She mumbles, "Go. Away. Now."

Damon surprises Elena when he says, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't sleep with anyone. So, you're still a virgin."

She lifts her face from the pillow and asks cautiously, "Really?"

"Yeah...I couldn't do it. It was too weird." Damon admits with a sheepish smile.

"Oh," Elena says, eyes wide, "Well..." She shrugs and gives him the smallest of smiles, "Thanks. But I'm still mad at you."

"I'm mad at you too," Damon returns with a scowl. Then he says goodnight, well, morning, and climbs back over to Elena's room via the tree outside the window. He might not forgive her, but he thinks they sort of called a half-truce right then. Damon doesn't plan on doing anything else to ruin Elena's life, at least not if she doesn't do anything to ruin his, until after Bonnie talks to her witchy Grams. Damon hopes that before the weekend is up, things will be back to normal.

* * *

**Review if you laughed:)** What do you want to see happen next? I foresee some witchy mishaps in the near future...hmm...


	6. Chapter 6 Wishful Thinking

**Welcome to Chapter 6:) **Thanks so much for reading everyone! Thanks to the new followers and favorites. I'm really glad you like the story:) I know everyone is anxious for Damon and Elena to stop fighting and start getting closer, and I promise that'll be coming up in a few chapters. They have a few more...issues to sort out before that happens.

**Special Thanks to: **Skating-on-glass, MelissaSomerhalder, kaybaby1127, milan0704, CamJ, DeeReadinQueen, vivianafrancesca, MissskAtherine, & Guest for reviewing last chapter! :) *Hugs!* I really appreciate the feedback.

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 6. Wishful Thinking**

True to her word, Bonnie spoke to her Grams on behalf of Elena and Damon. She wasn't quite sure what to tell her Grams, except that Damon seems to think he's Elena, and Elena is not acting like herself. Sheila Bennett tells Bonnie to bring the two of them to her house sometime this afternoon so she can see for herself if this is some kind of spell.

Bonnie calls Elena's phone after hanging up with her Grams. She hopes Damon was being serious yesterday, because if this ends up being a waste of her time she is not going to be happy. Elena answers after a few rings, sounding as though she were pulled out of sleep by the phone call.

"Hey Elena," Bonnie greets. "Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Who is this?" Elena replies, causing Bonnie to becoming even more of a believer that maybe Damon is occupying Elena's body.

"Bonnie," She fills in.

"Bonnie!" Damon finally sits up, rubbing at his eyes and looking around the room. It's almost noon. Bonnie is on the phone, so that must mean, "Did you talk to your Grams?"

Bonnie is relieved Elena knows why she called, because that means she's been talking with Damon. If they're both corroborating the story, that means they must both believe it. "Yeah," Bonnie clarifies, "I did. And she said for me to bring you guys over sometime today. She'll try and see if she can detect what caused this to happen. So are you really...Damon?"

"Uh-huh," Damon replies, "Is your Grams really a witch?"

"I guess so," Bonnie replies. "When did this happen?"

"I don't know." He tries to tell her with his normal crude humor, _I woke up Wednesday morning with boobs, and I've been enjoying them ever since. But if your Grams can get me back in my body now, that'd be awesome. _Nothing comes out. It's just like Elena said. He can't actually talk about it. "I can't say."

"Do you think you and...Elena can make it today?" Bonnie asks, instead of pushing for an answer. Grams suspects whoever did this to them also put a concealment spell on them, so they can't reveal they've been cursed.

"Of course. When and where?" Damon answers right away. What else could they possibly have to do this weekend that's more important than changing themselves back to normal? **Nothing.**

"I can pick both of you up in an hour?" Bonnie suggests.

"Sounds good, witchy," Damon agrees.

"OK," Bonnie says, "And, don't call me that."

After she hangs up, Damon calls his phone. "Wakey, wakey!" He says obnoxiously when Elena picks up. "Guess who just called?"

"Bonnie?" Elena asks hopefully.

"Yup." Damon instructs, "Be ready in one hour."

* * *

Elena is ready thirty minutes after Damon calls, so she decides to sit outside and wait. Damon comes out ten minutes later and walks over to join Elena on the porch of the Salvatore house. Elena shifts away from him uncomfortably. "Do you really think it's a good idea for you to be sitting out here with me?" She's worried about Stefan seeing them and getting angry.

Ignoring Elena's concerns, Damon says, "We need to talk about how this is going to work. Bonnie asked me when this happened, and I couldn't even tell her it was Wednesday. How can Bonnie's Grams help if we can't tell her anything?"

Elena thinks it over before shrugging and replying, "She's a witch. Maybe she can sense it. That's probably why she wants us to come over so she can see us face-to-face."

"She probably did this to us herself," Damon grumbles.

"Why would she do that?" Elena asks with a scoff.

"She's a witch, isn't she? Do you know any other witches? I sure as Hell don't." Damon points out.

Elena suddenly remembers something. "Wait a minute. We were at the museum on Tuesday...the witch display, remember?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well maybe it happened there. What were we doing?" Elena asks.

"Arguing?" Damon suggests. "But we're always arguing..."

Bonnie's car pulls into Elena's driveway then, and Damon and Elena share a nervous glance before walking over. Elena greets Bonnie happily, and takes the front seat from Damon with a trademark smirk. Damon rolls his eyes and climbs in the back seat.

"Thanks so much for doing this, Bonnie," Elena says gratefully.

"Oh, don't thank me yet," Bonnie replies, "Let's just see what Grams thinks first."

Sheila Bennett is waiting at the door when the teenagers arrive to her home. She invites them inside with a smile, wise brown eyes studying the boy and girl who seem to be under a curse. She can sense the magic is strong, very powerful, and very old. She insists everyone take a seat in the den.

Sheila wants to see the reaction herself, so she addresses, "Elena..." The black-haired, blue-eyed young man meets her eyes. She smiles and then turns to the familiar brunette with brown eyes, "Damon?" The pretty girl nods miserably. "Hmm..." Sheila has never seen something like this before. She reaches out to take one of Elena's hands in her left hand and one of Damon's in her right. She can feel the magic coursing between them, running a unified path from his body to hers and back to his and back to hers...an infinite connection. Sheila releases their hands as a shock jolts her. She sits back in her seat and comments gravely, "This is a very old and powerful curse."

"Does that mean you can't help us?" Damon asks, seeming distressed.

"It means it's going to be hard," Sheila explains, "And I don't know if I'll be able to help, but I will try. Do you know how this happened?"

Elena and Damon both shrug, Elena saying, "Not really, but even if we did, we can't talk about it. Every time we try, nothing comes out."

"Yes, there must be a concealment spell..." Sheila says thoughtfully.

Bonnie speaks up for the first time since arriving at the home of her Grams. "Well, Elena," she gestures towards Damon's body, "came up to me on Wednesday at school saying that she wasn't herself. I thought it was just Damon being an idiot, but then Thursday, Elena was not acting herself. And yesterday, she was crazy." She shakes her head and clarifies, "What I mean is, _Tuesday_ she was fine. Did something happen on Tuesday?"

Sheila and Bonnie both look to Damon and Elena. Elena nods, and Damon agrees, "Definitely."

"Well that's a start," Sheila smiles. She picks up an old-looking, leather-bound book and opens to a bookmarked page.

Damon stares curiously before asking, "What is that; a spellbook? It looks like a smaller version of the one at the museum." He looks at Elena for confirmation.

Elena's eyes light up and she looks at Sheila, wondering, _Could the spellbook at the museum have something to do with why we're like this? _But apparantly that question falls under 'concealment' because she can't ask. Lucky for her, Sheila was thinking the same thing, and she assures, "I'm two steps ahead of you, baby. You visited the History Museum, okay...so if you were looking at a spellbook, you must have been viewing the new display on the Witches of Mystic Falls." Elena nods. "Now whose spellbook could that have been?"

Elena racks her brain, trying to recall the name of the witch. She knows the wrote it down in her notebook before Mr. Shane paired her up with Damon, but she can't remember. It was...It was...Something with an A...

With a _crackle, _the fireplace bursts to life with flames, and Sheila gasps, "_Ayana!_" Just as suddenly as they lit up, the flames burn out. The room is silent. Then, Sheila starts flipping through the pages in her book, murmuring to herself too quiet for the teenagers in the room to decipher.

"Grams?" Bonnie asks with concern, "Is everything all right? What just happened?"

"Ayana is the witch who cursed you," Sheila says, looking at Damon and Elena. "She is a very old witch, the oldest known witch of the Bennett line." That is a shock no one but Sheila knew. Bonnie's eyes are wide with curiousity. "She doesn't want me to break the curse. She is warning me that my efforts will not be successful."

Damon and Elena exchange and disheartened look. Elena speaks up, "That's okay. Thank you for trying."

"I didn't say I wasn't going to try and help you still." Sheila's eyes seem determined, and she nods confidently. "I might not be able to break the spell, but I can help you two do it yourselves. I'm sure I have something in here that can help." She pats the book in her lap. "Give me until tomorrow. I'll see what I come up with."

"Thank you," Elena smiles.

"Yeah, thanks," Damon choruses.

* * *

Back home, before retreating to their separate houses, Damon asks Elena, "Do you think she'll really be able to help us?"

Elena shrugs, "I don't know. I hope so. We'll just have to wait and see."

Damon nods, still hesitating before going inside. "What are you doing today?"

Elena frowns and answers slowly, "Nothing...why?"

"Just wondering," Damon replies vaguely.

"Plotting some more revenge?" Elena asks, feigning disinterest. She really hopes Damon is done ruining her life. What else is there to ruin?

"No," Damon shakes his head. "I think we've both damaged each other's reputations enough. Let's just call a truce. Okay?"

"Okay. Truce," Elena holds out a hand and Damon shakes it. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go for it," Damon says openly.

"Why do you and Stefan hate each other so much?" Elena asks. It's something she's been thinking about since Wednesday. Before, she never really thought about it or cared to ask, but now that she has to experience what Damon does she's curious to know why.

"I thought you didn't care?" Damon reminds her of what she said the other day.

Elena shrugs, "I change my mind."

"Why?" Damon wants to know her reasons first before giving an answer.

"Because..." Elena sighs, "It's weird to see Stefan so...different. And I want to know what makes him act this way."

"Maybe Stefan isn't who you think he is," Damon suggests.

"If you're not going to give me an answer then just tell me," Elena sighs, becoming impatient. It seems Damon always has to play a game. He can never give a direct answer . He just twists everything around until Elena is so frustrated with him, she gives up.

"Remember when you wore that shirt on Thursday and I got mad?" Damon asks.

"Yeah..."

"I said it reminded me of Homecoming, Freshman Year, and it was not a good night," Damon elaborates. "It's all because of _Stefan_ that night turned into a shitfest. Well, him and my girlfriend at the time; Katherine."

"What happened?" Elena asks, thoroughly intrigued now.

Before Damon can continue with the story, Stefan opens the front door and steps outside, his brow immediately ruffling up at the sight of his girlfriend with his brother, _again_. "Damon," He says gruffly, "How many times do I have to tell you to leave Elena alone?"

Elena blinks a few times, unsure of what to say. She knew this was going to happen. Stefan always seems to know when Damon is bothering Elena. Normally, she'd be grateful for the interruption, but right now she is annoyed. She wants to know what happened with Stefan and Damon, and Katherine. What did they do? Why did that result in the two brothers feuding?

"We were paired up for a project in school, Stefan," Damon explains for Elena, seeing her struggle for an excuse. "So I had to talk to him."

"Oh," Stefan says, seeming disappointed.

"Yeah, so..." Damon tugs on Elena's shoulder, "He's going to come over so we can finish up."

Stefan's frown deepens and he looks mad, but he bites his tongue and says nothing. He can't forbid them to work on a school project together. Elena follows Damon, wondering how mad Stefan is going to be later, and if it'll be directed towards Damon or Elena. Once up in her bedroom, she flops down on her bed, Damon joining.

"How can you stand to be with be him?" Damon asks. "He's always so...brooding and depressing. Like that face..." He tries to mimic the deep frown, which looks funny on Elena's small, girlish features.

"He is not always like that," Elena denies. "He's very sweet with me. He's a gentleman. He's romantic and smart."

"Blech!" Damon pretends to gag himself and Elena chuckles. "The many faces of Stefan Salvatore."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elena asks, serious again after that comment. Damon is always hinting that Stefan isn't who she thinks he is. "What happened with Stefan and Katherine?"

"Half-way through the dance, I caught them making out in the parking lot," Damon says bluntly. "Turns out, they'd been doing it for a month. Katherine was going to break up with me for Stefan that night, but after getting caught, Stefan decided he didn't want her anymore."

"Why would he do that?" Elena asks, feeling for Damon that his step-brother would do something so hurtful. Also that his girlfriend would do that to him. She's never been cheated on and she imagines it's one of the worst feelings in the world. Being in a relationship means there should be complete trust between two people. She'd never break that trust by cheating.

"Because Stefan likes the thrill of the chase," Damon theorizes, "He wants what he can't have, lusts for it, yearns to have it, and when he finally gets it, he moves on. That's why he likes you so much. You won't give in to him too easily. He's still trying to capture you. But when he does..."

"What makes you think he hasn't changed?" Elena wants to loathe Damon for what he's implying, but after learning of what happened with Stefan and Katherine, she is starting to have doubts. Her beliefs in Stefan are starting to crumble. She's questioning if she does love him or if that is false? "Why should I believe you anyways?"

"What reason do I have to lie about it?" Damon asks. "Think about it, Elena. Why do you think Stefan gets so jealous when I'm with you? He thinks I'm going to try and do to him what he did to me. He doesn't trust me. That's why he hates me so much. That's why he made you hate me."

"You did a good enough job getting me to hate you on your own," Elena reminds him.

"I know," Damon concedes. "But Stefan feuled the fire. If you really want to be with him after this, we're going to have to figure out some way to hold him off for the time being. I can't pretend to be his loving girlfriend. It's disturbing. He kissed my lips the other day. I almost threw up in his mouth."

"Rebekah did way worse to me," Elena reminds him.

"Look, Tyler groped me too," Damon admits.

"_**Tyler?!**_" Elena says, sitting up with a start, face panicked and deathly pale. "Tyler Lockwood? No, Damon, you didn't. Please tell me you didn't!"

"I didn't do anything," Damon insists, "Once he started trying to take off my clothes, I ran out. End of story."

"But Tyler is Caroline's _boyfriend_!" Elena grimaces, pulling at Damon's short, thick hair in frustration. "What the Hell? She's never going to speak to me again! She's been one of my best friends since the third grade. The third fucking grade, Damon. How would you feel if I did that to you? What if I cost you your relationship with Klaus?" With that, she storms out of the room. She should have known her truce with Damon wouldn't last long. He always messes up something or other.

* * *

Shortly after Elena leaves, Caroline calls. It's like girls have some sort of psychic ability to always know when someone is talking about them. Especially Caroline Forbes. She is the definition of a social butterfly; always coordinating a party or girls' night or school event. She is in the middle of everything.

But she's Elena's best friend. And Damon, in Elena's body, made out with her boyfriend last night, and almost did more. Truth is, he regrets it. It's one of the only things he regrets doing, and he doesn't understand why he's feeling so terrible about it. Yesterday, he wanted nothing more than to ruin Elena Gilbert's life. Today, he's having second thoughts. He's wishing he could take back what he did. How weird is that? Damon Salvatore doesn't have remorse. He's never felt bad over anything he did to Stefan. Why is Elena different?

Damon convinces himself he's only feeling this way because of the curse. It must be some side-effect. He's feeling closer to her because he's in her body. That makes sense. Right?

"It makes sense," Damon confirms out loud.

He finally picks up Caroline's call before it goes to voicemail. Her cheerful voice comes through, "Hey Elena! What are you doing tonight? Want to come over for a girls' night?"

See? There's another one of those girls' nights she's always having. _What is a girls' night anyways?_ Damon wonders. He is tempted to say yes just to find out, but the guilt over what happened with Tyler last night, and Elena's words fresh on his mind, he knows he can't.

"Aw, I wish I could, but I can't tonight, Care," Damon answers regretfully. "I've been feeling sick since yesterday. I'm in bed." He tries to make it sound believable by adding a little cough.

"What _was_ up with you yesterday?" Caroline asks curiously. "Someone trying to steal Stefan from you or something?"

"No, no, I don't know," Damon tries to brush it off, "I think the fever made me delirious..."

"Ha. Ha. Seriously, spill!" Caroline presses for more details.

"I just haven't been myself lately," Damon insists, "So if you hear anything weird about me, just, don't believe it."

"O-kay crazy," Caroline giggles. "Well, I hope you feel better. I'll see you on Monday."

"All right, bye, Care," Damon replies before hanging up. He hopes what he says won't cause Caroline to be more suspicious. That was the complete opposite of his intentions.

He can feel a growing knot in his stomach, a ball of nerves, and he wonders if this is a side-effect of being in Elena's body. He's never felt guilt so strongly before. She's the one who's always nervous and unsure of herself. She's the one with the conscience. Not him. Damon doesn't care if someone thinks what he does is wrong. He does it anyways.

_Please_, He thinks as he leans back in bed and stares up at the ceiling, _Gramma Witchy, figure this out. I need to get back in my body._

* * *

Sunday morning, Sheila Bennett wakes up with an answer. She had a dream, and in her dream she found the answer in a book. The only problem is, the book showed multiple pages, all different spells. Sheila doesn't know which is the right one, but certainly all of these spells are not the key to switching back Damon and Elena's minds.

Ayana was known to be a trickster though, and Sheila is aware of this. She thinks maybe Ayana is interfering with her dreams and possibly planting false solutions in her mind. But two of the five spells have to do with a connection of body and of mind, and Sheila is almost positive one of them is the correct spell.

Sheila calls Bonnie after gathering all she needs for the spells, and tells her to have Elena and Damon meet her at the house at noon.

Bonnie calls Damon, since she only has Elena's cell number, "Hey, are you awake?"

"I am now," Damon replies in a grumpy tone. He doesn't like being woken up early. "Did your Grams figure something out?"

"She thinks so," Bonnie confirms. "She's getting everything ready to try a spell on you and Elena later. So be ready; I'm picking you both up at eleven-forty-five."

Damon's heart beats faster with the hopeful thought of possibly being himself again by this afternoon. He tells Bonnie they'll be ready and calls Elena to tell her the news. She takes the call, only to hear what he has to say about Sheila, and then hangs up on him. She's still pissed. Damon feels that pang of guilt creep back, but he ignores it as best he can. Soon, he'll be himself again, and he won't have to worry about Elena anymore. In fact, it's not okay for him to worry about her, because Stefan will kick his ass if he keeps hanging around his girlfriend. Elena will apologize to everyone for going crazy once she's herself again, and shit will go back to normal. It always does.

He'll just keep telling himself that until he believes it's true.

* * *

**Review & Follow! **Do you think Sheila will be able to break the curse? Anything funny you'd like to see happen next? I'd love to hear what you want to happen:)

Take the poll on my profile page if you have a minute.


	7. Chapter 7 Witchy Experiment Part 1

**Hey Guys! **I can't stop writing this story, so I'm really glad you are all liking it!:) Thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews; you guys are like the best reviewers ever! It really makes me happy to read your feedback:) Here is part 1 of a 2-part 'Witchy Experiment'. I think you guys are going to like it. Elena and Damon just might be getting along...?

**Special Thanks** **to: **Skating-on-glass, curiouswriter, Guest, LoveMeant2BE, kaybaby1127, fashionista1988, DeeReadinQueen, & CamJ for reviewing last chapter! :) *Hugs!*

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing **

**Ch 7. Witchy Experiment Part 1**

Elena and Damon arrive with Bonnie to Sheila Bennett's home on Sunday, promptly at noon. Both are eager to get started with whatever it is Bonnie's Grams has in store for them today. Sheila has been preparing all morning for their arrival; cleansing the home of any negative energy so the spell will be pure, setting up the black and white candles to balance the energies between Damon and Elena, and gathering all the oils and herbs needed to perform the spells.

When Sheila opens the front door and greets them with a solemn nod, Bonnie announces, "They're not speaking."

Sheila motions for the three teenagers to come inside before asking, "Well why not?" She picks up a thick stick of sage, which she had used earlier to purify the house, and re-lights it.

Elena crosses her arms and looks away from Damon, not wanting to explain why he's an asshole this time. He is simply hopeless. He will never understand why he made Elena so upset, so he'll never truly be sorry for what he's done. She can't forgive someone who doesn't deserve to be forgiven, and who isn't remorseful of their actions. She keeps her mouth firmly shut.

Damon sighs and admits, "I did something stupid. So…she's not talking to me."

Bonnie and Elena both look at Damon curiously, wondering if this is some kind of joke. "I know it was stupid, okay?" He says to Elena with the tiniest of shrugs, "Can we just forget about it for now?"

Elena doesn't know if she'd consider that an apology, but she rolls her eyes and nods once. The sooner they agree to drop their argument, the sooner Sheila can focus on breaking this body-swapping curse. "Whatever."

Sheila waves the burning sage in front of Damon and Elena, surrounding them in a haze of smoke. She explains, "Relax, both of you. Take a few deep breaths. Let your problems go. We have more important things to do right now, and holding on to these negative emotions is going to make it more difficult for the magic to work on you."

Damon coughs over-dramatically, "What the heck is this stuff? It's suffocating me."

Sheila sucks her tongue against her teeth, "It is _not_ suffocating you. It's only sage. Come, follow me. I'm going to have you two take a seat."

Damon and Elena follow and take a seat at the two wooden dining chairs that are in the middle of the room, facing each other. Bonnie trails in behind, standing with her back against the wall to watch her Grams work her magic. Sheila draws symbols in the air with the smoke from the sage at each corner of the room, and then puts out the incense. She places two white candles and two black candles at opposing corners of the 'circle' Damon and Elena are creating. She lights them counter-clockwise, with no help of a lighter or matches. Elena is mystified. She wants to ask how Sheila is doing that, but she holds her tongue. _She's a witch! _That's how she's doing it.

"Before I start with the spell," Sheila explains, "I want to warn both of you that these spells are intended to break the curse and restore both of you to your own bodies. That being said, I don't know if either of these will work because I don't know the original spell Ayana used. These spells are written in an ancient tongue, so it is difficult to translate. This first spell is to clarify and restore the mind, while connecting one to another. I feel strongly this is the one that will work as it contains hyssop herb, which is used to take off a jinx or break a hex. I'm going to try that one first."

"And if it doesn't work?" Damon prompts.

"Then I have a second spell to try," Sheila answers. "Now, let's get started." She instructs Damon and Elena to, "Sit up straight, and plant your feet firmly on the floor, relaxed. Keep your hands in your lap or at your sides, un-crossed. Crossed limbs can cross magic, and we don't want that. Take three deep breaths, and then just relax. Try to clear your mind of any worries and focus only on what we are doing here and now."

Sheila crosses the room to a long, narrow table, where she has the supplies needed for the spells laid out. She mixes in a bowl the ingredients for the first spell: basil for masculinity and rosemary for femininity, nutmeg for good luck, bay leaves and hyssop herb to work against the curse, licorice root for the mind, and a pinch of salt. She crushes the herbs together and then picks up the bowl with her left hand. She picks up a small bottle of jasmine oil with her right hand, and approaches the chairs where Damon and Elena sit.

"Terra parens protegat nos…" Sheila chants, "Da mihi virtutem…" She crosses the bowl through each of the four candle flames, starting first with the black and ending with the white. Then she places the bowl on the floor between Damon and Elena's feet. She puts a drop of jasmine oil on the inside of both wrists of Elena and Damon, and then links their hands together, ordering, "Keep your hands linked." She resumes chanting in the dead language, "Dimitte ista maledictio…dimitte ista maledictio…dimitte ista maledictio…" The third time she chants these words, the bowl of herbs on the floor bursts into flames. The herbs sizzle and crackle in the fire until they become a thick smoke, which floats up and surrounds Damon and Elena. It circles around their heads, swirling faster and faster, like a tornado. The smoke thins slowly until it disappears.

Elena blinks a few times, her eyes stinging and slightly irritated from the smoke. She realizes she is gripping Damon's hands pretty tightly, and vise versa. They've also been staring into each other's eyes like they were hypnotized, but once the spoke dissipates the dazed feeling passes as well. For a moment, Elena felt like her mind was leaving this body and crossing back to her own. She felt a strong pulling sensation towards Damon when Sheila was chanting, but now she feels nothing. Everything feels the same. And she is clearly still in Damon's body because she's still sitting directly across from herself.

_Damn…it didn't work. _

Elena takes in a sharp breath. _Did I just…? Was that Damon's…? _

_What the fuck?! _"What the fuck?" Damon repeats his thoughts out loud.

_Oh my God…No. No, no, no. That didn't just happen. We are not sharing thoughts right now. No way. I'm hallucinating. That's it. _

"Uh, Gramma Witchy, something's wrong," Damon announces.

_Yeah_, Elena thinks, _Seriously wrong. Like it wasn't already bad enough to be in your body? Now I have to be in your mind too? I don't want to be in your mind. I don't want to know what you're thinking… _

_Please, like I want to hear your thoughts?_ Damon interrupts, finally dropping Elena's hands._ I can't believe I was still holding her hands. Well, my hands, but whatever. The last person I want to touch is __**her. **_

"I _can_ hear what you're thinking, asshole!" Elena insults, trying not to feel hurt by Damon's words. She was thinking the same thing…sort of. Well, she would have, if she'd been thinking anything other than, _Why the fuck is this happening?!_

Sheila gasps, "Oh no…" She picks up her spellbook and skims through the spell she just used on Damon and Elena.

_Great…she messed up. Now we're going to be stuck like this forever… _

_No we're not!_ Elena refuses to believe that. _She'll fix it. She won't leave us like this. I can't be like this. I'll go crazy. I'll seriously go- _

_Will you stop thinking so much? You're giving me a headache! _

_You __**are **__a headache! _

Sheila shakes her head back and forth as she realizes this spell is not what she originally thought. She's been tricked by the Trickster. Ayana isn't playing around. She really doesn't want this curse to be tampered with by Sheila, so she is influencing Sheila's magic. She made Sheila believe the spell was to unbind the jinx from their minds and send them back to their own heads, but it connected their minds further. "Oh dear," Sheila sighs, "I'm so sorry. Let me see what I can do…"

While she skims the page following the spell for an anecdote, Elena tries to clear her mind of everything, so Damon won't be able to hear her thoughts. _Yes…that's it…think of nothing. Black, dark, nothing._

_What are you doing?_ Damon raises an eyebrow at Elena. _You know you can never actually make yourself think nothing. It doesn't work. You just end up thinking something else. _

_Get out of my head!_

Damon rolls his eyes. _I'd love to. Show me the way out._

Elena fake laughs. _Oh you're so funny, aren't you? You're just hilarious. Just like it was hilarious for you to make-out with my best friend's boyfriend! _

_I didn't even know they were together! I didn't know Caroline was with Tyler until after I got there, and he bragged about how he blew Caroline off for you! So maybe you should be mad at him. He's the one who wanted to steal your virginity so badly he'd cheat on Caroline. _

_My virginity_…Elena's eyes widen and she bites her lip…_La, la, la! Doo-doo, uh…ponies and kittens and rainbows and all kinds of colorful candies… _

_What are you doing?_ Damon squints at her, trying to figure it out. _You're trying to hide something from me. What do you not want me to know, Elena?_

She tries to keep it out of her mind, really, she does. But Damon was completely right. The harder she tries to not think of it, the closer to the front of her mind it comes. It's like reverse psychology on her own brain, only it's doing the opposite of what she wanted it to do! _Virgin. He always says that. Virgin-this, virgin-that. Someone who had sex as many times as I did cannot be called a virgin. _She claps a hand over her mouth even though the words weren't spoken out lout. She closes her eyes in shame when she sees the evil glint in Damon's eyes.

"You lying slut!" Damon accuses, pointing a finger at Elena in shock. _Wow! What is that supposed to mean? How many times have you had sex? Elena, Elena, Elena…I never would have guessed. How many dirty, little secrets are you hiding?_

_Leave me alone!_ Elena pleads. She jumps up from her seat and runs out of the room. _Someone kill me now. He's going to find out everything. I don't want him to know about Matt. I don't want him to know any of this. He's going to tell everyone. He's going to hold it over my head __**forever**__! I can't deal_…She sits on the front steps of Sheila's house and blinks back tears.

"Hey," Damon says quietly from behind her, "I'm going to do that."

"Yeah, sure," Elena scoffs before hiding her face in her knees.

Damon sits down beside her and reassures, "I'm not this horribly evil guy like you think I am, Elena. I won't tell anyone. I think I understand how you feel. We're kind of in the same boat here."

"Yeah, but you don't have anything to hide," Elena points out. "And there's a lot that you don't know about me. And I'd like to keep it that way. Stefan doesn't even know, and I can't-"

"Do you really think I'd tell Stefan?" Damon interrupts. "I think you know by now that I don't talk to Stefan."

"Maybe not now," Elena shrugs, "But if I do something to make you mad, I bet you'd tell him then. Because obviously Stefan wouldn't want to be with me anymore."

"Is that why you lied?" Damon wonders. _Because Stefan wouldn't want Elena after finding out she's not a virgin. That's why he wants her in the first place… _

_Still hearing your thoughts, Damon. But no. That's not why. _

"Sorry…" Damon didn't want Elena to hear that, but again, can't control what's in his own head. "Just my opinion. Maybe Stefan wants you for a completely different reason."

_Sure_. Elena smiles half-heartedly. _But you probably are right. And he would break up with me if he found out, because I lied to him. I told him it was true that I'm a virgin. _

_Why, though? _

Bonnie opens the front door and announces, "Grams is going to reverse the spell. Come on."

Damon and Elena quickly follow Bonnie back inside and re-take their seats. Sheila asks them to hold hands again. She lights the candles clockwise this time, and chants a few phrases in Latin. There's more smoke, and then…

_Are you still in my head?_ Elena asks cautiously. Damon does the same. There's no answer.

"It worked!" Elena says with a smile.

Damon is surprised to find that he's a little disappointed. He didn't want to be stuck with Elena in his mind forever, but before Bonnie interrupted them, he was learning something really interesting about her. And now that her thoughts aren't forced upon him, he doesn't think she's going to open up about it. Why he cares so much, he's not sure, but he wants to know what happened with Elena and this Matt guy. Why would she endure his incessant teasing about her being an uptight virgin when she's not even one? She must have a good reason…and he is so curious.

"Yeah," Damon nods, "it worked."

"All right," Sheila smiles, glad to have that problem solved. "Are you up for trying the second spell? Or do you want to wait for a different day? I don't want to do anything you aren't prepared for."

"Let's just do it today," Elena answers first. "Is that okay with you?" She asks Damon.

"Yeah," He agrees, "I'd rather try it now. Get it over with, you know."

Sheila nods and gets to work preparing the small ceramic bowl with herbs needed for this spell. Lavender and chamomile flowers are used for luck, cleansing, and un-hexing, and also for friendship. The spell calls for damiana leaves, a small amount of ginger, lotus and patchouli oils, and a pinch of sulfur powder. She mixes it all together as she chants, "Mentem…Corpus…Anima…" She motions for Damon and Elena to hold hands again once she's finished mixing the herbs and oils. She lights the candles as she passes over them with the bowl. "Flammas desiderii consurget…Flammas desiderii consurget…Flammas desiderii consurget!" She holds the bowl above Damon and Elena as the herbs crackle to life with fire, same as before. This time, the smoke burns red, and it falls around Damon and Elena like ashes raining from the sky. When the last of the red ash has fallen to the ground at Elena and Damon's feet, they feel their hands heat up like red-hot coals. They pull their hands away from each other quickly, both looking to see if their fingers were burned. Once contact is broken, the burning sensation is gone too.

"That was weird…" Elena comments slowly.

"Do you feel any different?" Bonnie asks curiously.

"I don't know," Elena shrugs.

"No," Damon says honestly, not caring if it hurts anyone's feelings. He's not going to lie and pretend like the spell worked when it didn't. He's still in Elena's body. Clearly, that means the spell didn't work.

"Is it supposed to work right away?" Elena wonders, remembering that she and Damon didn't switch bodies until some time after they fell asleep.

"It's hard to say," Sheila admits, "All spells are different. Some take effect immediately, and some don't. I guess we just wait and see."

_Yeah, no kidding_. Damon rolls his eyes. This was a waste of time. Nothing is going to happen. He's still going to be stuck in Elena's body tomorrow morning, and he's going to have to go back to school for another week pretending to be Elena. Maybe he'll have to pretend to be Elena for the rest of high school, and maybe college too, and maybe after that it'll be for forever. He can't even imagine. Forever in Elena's body? That would be…just cruel. What did he do to this Ayana chick that made her hate him so much?

Sheila instructs Damon and Elena to take it easy when they get home, and have a few glasses of water. She says their bodies have been exposed to a lot of magic today, and even if they don't feel like it, their bodies are drained. She gives them both her phone number and says to call, regardless of the results, in the morning. She is confident the spell was successful, but she's just not sure if it was the spell they needed to break the curse. Only time will tell.

Bonnie drives Elena and Damon home, not bothering them about the awkward mind-reading moment. She would like to know why Damon accused her best friend of being a 'lying slut', but she'll ask another day; prefferably when Elena is in her own body. It's still weird to talk to Damon and have Elena answer. Bonnie will be glad when this is over, too, and she's hopeful that the second spell her Grams cast will do the trick.

"Remember what Grams said," Bonnie reminds when she pulls into Elena's driveway, "Drink a glass of water, and get lots of rest. I hope it works."

"Me too," Damon and Elena say at the same time. Elena laughs and Damon smiles briefly. That was awkward. First they've switched bodies and now they're talking at the same time.

"Jinx," Elena teases. Then she says, "Maybe that's not funny right now since we're already kind of jinxed."

"Yeah," Damon agrees with a laugh. "Well...see you later? Hopefully tomorrow things will be..."

"Normal?" Elena suggests.

"Normal."

* * *

**Review! **I want to know what you think is going to happen next! Take a guess;) What do you want to happen? Love to hear from you :)


	8. Chapter 8 Witchy Experiment Part 2

**Guess What?! **You guys are gonna love this chapter ;) Well, I hope you do, anyways. It was really hard to write, because I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but it was a lot harder than I thought it'd be. Feedback is always appreciated! Thanks so much for all the feedback so far! I can't believe how many of you reviewed last chapter! I was so happy:) Thanks for following and favoriting, all that good stuff. *Hugs for Everyone!* I'm in a really good mood over this chapter;)

Anywho, **Special Thanks to:** MelissaSomerhalder, Tara Rebecca, curiouswriter, galeanthrope, PunkMuffin, CamJ, DeeReadinQueen, Guest, Skating-on-glass, Pippa783, , vivianafracesca, Nikkii23, LoveMeant2BE, kaybaby1127, AlwaysDelena, DelenaVD, & susel for reviewing! :) *More hugs* ;)

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 8. Witchy Experiment Part 2**

When Elena enters the Salvatore home after spending the afternoon with Damon and Bonnie at Sheila Bennett's, Stefan seems to be waiting for her. Well, he's waiting for Damon. As soon as Elena closes the door and starts towards the stairs to go up to Damon's room, Stefan cuts her off.

"Where were you?" Stefan demands in a gravely serious tone.

Elena takes a step back and looks Stefan in the eyes, not liking his attitude one bit. "Elena and I already told you we're working on a project together."

"Funny how you end up _randomly _paired with my girlfriend so often," Stefan comments sarcastically. "Almost makes me wonder if _maybe_ you're doing it on purpose."

Is this how Stefan treats Damon all the time? Is this why Damon treats her so badly? Or is that just of his own doing because he's naturally a dick? Regardless, Elena is in this body, so she's going to defend it. "How could I do it on purpose, Stefan? Get real."

"Stay away from Elena, Damon," Stefan warns threateningly. "I mean it. I'm not going to tell you again."

"Whatever," Elena says with a roll of Damon's icy blue eyes as she pushes past Stefan to the staircase. After climbing a few stairs, she grumbles, "Maybe it's time to let go of the past..."

"What the fuck did you say?" Stefan yells, causing Elena to flinch.

_Guess that wasn't as quiet as I thought it was..._Elena doesn't know whether to keep heading to Damon's room or to stop and face Stefan. He's like a ticking time bomb at the moment, so it's not exactly the best time to bother him, but she already brought up the topic on her mind. Is it wrong to continue what she started?

"You obviously heard me," Elena replies testily. She's trying to answer like Damon without overdoing it. She doesn't want to end up getting punched in the face by Stefan.

"Me let go of the past?" Stefan growls angrily, "You're the one who will never let it go, Damon. You still can't accept that Katherine wanted me more! And you've fucked all _my_ girlfriends, _any_ girl I was even remotely attracted to, for that matter, since then. I'll let it go when you do."

"Well why'd you do it?" Elena asks, ignoring all the other comments Stefan said. She'll sift through that new batch of information later. Right now, she wants to know Stefan's side of the story; if she can get it out of him, that is.

"What? This again?" Stefan sighs loudly, and Elena knows Damon must have asked this question before, maybe more than once. "She came on to me first, Damon. She wanted _me_. You just will never believe it. You really loved her that much? You're pathetic."

"Okay," Elena nods, blank-faced, "Thanks." She proceeds to walk slowly to Damon's room, digesting the argument she pretty much caused between the step-brothers. She didn't have to do that. She could have avoided it completely if she'd kept her mouth shut and came up here when she had the chance. She learned a little more about Katherine, though. She also learned how cold-hearted Stefan can be. She would have never pictured him this way and she'd never believe it if she didn't see it with her own eyes.

Damon isn't perfect, definitely not, but at least he doesn't pretend like he is. Stefan does. Stefan is a fake. Damon might sleep with girls, but he doesn't keep it a secret. Stefan sneaks around. Stefan is capable of infidelity. If he could sleep with his step-brother's girlfriend, he could cheat on Elena. Who is she dating? Is Stefan even any better than Damon? Now that she knows Damon slept with all the girls Stefan had interest in to get revenge, she feels sort of disgusted with him. But she doesn't know if that's fair. Stefan could be misconstruing the details to insult Damon. She doesn't know the facts. This situation is much more complicated than she originally thought. She should have left it alone.

Elena begins to feel the exhaustion kicking in that Sheila warned her and Damon about. _I guess that magic did do something._ Elena remembers the instructions to drink water, so she drinks a glass, as told. Then she lays down for a nap because she simply can't keep her eyes open. She doesn't wake up until the next morning...

* * *

Monday morning, Damon wakes thirty minutes earlier than usual to see the result of the previous night's enchantment. Damon hopes to open his eyes to his bedroom, and start out the week like any other. His hopes are quickly crushed when he opens his eyes. He's still in Elena's bed, in Elena's body, in Elena's room.

"What the Hell?" He asks the ceiling angrily, "Why didn't it work?"

Damon groans as he sits up, eyes immediately trailing over to the window that overlooks his bedroom next door. He wonders if Elena is awake yet, if she knows the spell Bonnie's Grams cast didn't work. What was all the smoke and fire for if nothing happened? Why did he and Elena's hands feel like they were welded together with hot iron before they let go of each other? All that was for nothing? _What a bunch of bullshit._

Damon is too angry to begin the morning routine it takes to get ready in this female body. He's too angry to do anything but pout about the fact that he's not in his body yet. His blood is pumping through his veins almost painfully strong. Damon keeps staring at the window...He has to go over there. He changes from Elena's striped pajama pants to a pair of jeans, and pulls a zip-up sweatshirt over the teal blue cami he wore to bed. He runs the brush on the dresser through Elena's hair and snags the long, dark tresses up into a ponytail. He's kind of gotten better at that. It's a learn-as-you-go kind of thing. For some reason, he brushes his teeth, before stepping into sneakers and opening the window. He grips the branch and swings across easier this time than the first.

Inside, Elena has already been awake for a while. She took a shower, brushed her teeth, made the bed, and then put pajamas on again and got back in bed. That's how early she was up. She fell asleep so early yesterday that it was impossible to get a full night's sleep. She had woken up again around the same time as Damon, and has been worrying if her odd sleeping schedule last night fudged up the spell. She's convinced herself that's why she's still in Damon's body. It's her fault. She didn't fucking sleep through the night and now she's stuck in Damon's body. She's gotten herself so worked up that her heart is beating erratically, pumping her veins with unnecessary adrenaline.

Seeing Damon climbing through the window, Elena stands up and prepares herself for what is sure to be an angry remark from Damon. Instead, when he straightens up and their eyes meet, both of them freeze. A curious sensation overcomes them, and, almost like magnets, they drift closer together. Even though Elena is staring at herself, she can't help but feel filled with warmth and..._love?_ She is desperate to be closer, to touch, and to smell, to _taste_. The feeling is so strong that nothing else matters. She can't remember what she was doing before or what she'll be doing after. All there is, is _now_, and _him_.

Damon has never seen anyone more beautiful, and somewhere deep in his mind he acknowledges that he's looking at _himself_, but it's not him. It's Elena. He knows she's in there, and he _wants_ her. It's like this body he inhabits has been on a mission all morning, and even though he didn't know, he ended up exactly where he was supposed to be. He welcomes the heat that fills his body, pooling in his lower belly, as he stops in front of his own body just barely touching. He can feel electricity tingling between them and he holds his breath in anticipation before taking the final step and grabbing his Elena-occupied body by the waist. He swears their bodies _sizzle_ as they come in contact. It's fiery and hot; and he wants _more._

Elena's eyes flutter shut as Damon closes the space between them, a shudder running through her and goose bumps popping up on her skin. Her body has never reacted this way from one little touch, and even though a small part of her finds it strange that this is happening from _her_ _hands _touching _Damon's body_, but a bigger part of her doesn't care. It's more important to have _more_ of this feeling than to put a stop to it, so Elena goes with it. She lets her hands respond to Damon's touch, falling over his shoulders and pulling him flush against her.

She opens her eyes and stares straight into Damon's, and instead of seeing her eyes, she sees Damon's face, but she knows this isn't because they miraculously switched bodies at one touch; she's seeing Damon's _soul _inside her body. She wonders, _What is going on?_

Damon is seeing the same thing, and he's in awe of how beautiful Elena and her soul are. She is so overwhelming; she's consuming him. He hears her question, too, and replies, _I don't know._

Elena feels Damon's uncertainty, like secondary emotions of herself. She is dazed and confused but craving more of this feeling. Damon is also needy and excited, but he has a small feeling this isn't right. Elena soothes Damon's unsure thoughts as she presses her forehead against Damon's, brushing their noses together, and kissing him lightly.

That one taste was enough to convince Damon this is what he came here for, and he melts into her, his eyes falling closed, though he still sees Elena's face shining through. He grips her neck, swearing it feels like her small, fragile neck and not his own. He kisses her desperately, falling away from reality as he tastes the most heavenly lips. He will never stop. Of their own accord, their bodies move to the bed. As Damon pushes Elena down on the bed and she looks up at him with smoldering eyes, he can feel himself drifting away, but he's not alone because she's there. Somehow he knows their bodies are still on his bed, in his bedroom, but their minds have gone elsewhere. Damon is Elena and Elena is Damon, and they are One.

Ayana watches the exchange from the spirit realm, wise old eyes glinting with mischief. She is the Trickster and no one can pull one over on her, not even a powerful witch of her bloodline, like Sheila Bennett. Ayana isn't done having her fun with Damon and Elena, so she won't release them from the curse she's placed them under. When Sheila tried to interfere, Ayana took that as a chance to have some more fun. The mind-reading spell was simple, and easy to set right, but the Soul Mate Spell is one of the most powerful enchantments. It is so strong and so special that if the counter spell isn't completed in under twenty-four hours, it is **permanent**.

Every kiss, every brush of skin against skin, every breath brings Elena closer to Damon. She can literally see inside of his soul. His mind and hers are sharing thoughts and memories. Elena sees Damon in her mind's eye: a child, only five years old. He is crying and all alone. She reaches out to him and he takes her hand as he tells her his mommy is gone, and she's never coming back, and that means no one will ever love him again. His little body shivers and shakes, and Elena pulls him into her lap to keep him warm. He thinks he is undeserving of such kindness, especially from her, that he is undeserving of love. Elena _feels _that Damon thinks that is true. He believes he is unlovable. Her heart breaks for him, and she holds him tighter, swearing, _I will never let you feel like that again. You deserve to be loved…you are loved. I love you. _The little Damon stops his shaking and smiles.

Although Elena is experiencing a very private moment in Damon's life, he isn't witnessing her with himself as a child. He hears her words, he feels their truth, but he is having another experience entirely. Damon is with Elena, floating weightlessly on _nothingness. _She is so beautiful; she is glowing, like an angel. He sees all the best qualities in her: compassion, wit, loyalty, drive, curiousity, strength. He reassures her of her insecurities. She has a small scar on her heart, from a past love that hurt her very bad, and he knows she is still hurting from the wound.

_I have one, too. _He says of her scar. _Who hurt you?_

Elena blinks her wide brown eyes. She would normally feel put on the spot being asked such a personal question, but she doesn't feel that way with Damon. She wants to tell him, wants him to know every one of her secrets. _Matt…He said he loved me. He lied. He left…_

_She lied to me too. Katherine…_

_I wasn't good enough. _Elena shares her deepest secret. _I tried to be everything he wanted. I loved him so much. But I wasn't enough._

Damon feels anger towards Matt. He wants to hurt him. He wants to hurt anyone who ever made Elena feel like she was less than she's worth. _He's the one who's no good. You're perfect. You're better than perfect. You deserve the world…I would never leave you…_

Elena presses her hand into Damon's, their palms meeting and fingers linking together in an intimate motion. Elena kisses every piece of skin she can reach. They peel the clothes off each other, needing to feel more of the other, needing to be as close as they can possibly get. Neither are aware of what they are actually doing, or that this is the result of the spell Sheila cast upon them yesterday, or that they might regret taking this too far later. Nothing but he and she exist.

Until they are interrupted…

"Damon! What the fuck are you doing in there?" **Knock-Knock! **

Damon and Elena jump apart in shock, gasping for air like they've been holding their breath this whole time. Elena stares at Damon with eyes wide. What did they just do? She doesn't have a shirt on, her jeans are unbuttoned, and Damon's body is sporting a painfully large boner. She adjusts herself, because it really does _hurt, _and leans her bare back against the headboard of Damon's bed.

Damon is at the opposite end of the bed, equally breathless and confused. One second, he's in Elena's mind, sharing intimate details of his life with her and vice versa…And the next second, he's back in Elena's body, wondering how that happened and why he's now horny as fuck. Did they almost just have sex? His pants have somehow been removed and thrown aside, same with the sweatshirt he wore over, leaving Elena's body in only a cami and panties. Damon tries to get his breathing under control.

"Hello?!" The pounding outside of Damon's bedroom door resumes, Stefan demanding, "Damon, what the Hell?"

Damon widens his eyes at Elena and motions for her to say something, _anything. _She shrugs and calls back to Stefan, "Uh…sorry. Be right out. One minute!" She turns to Damon and whispers accusingly, "What the fuck just happened?" What she means is, why is Stefan yelling? Were they being loud? _Oh. My. GOD! Did he hear us __**moaning**__ or something?!_

_She would blame me for this, _Damon thinks with a roll of his eyes. "I don't know. You tell me."

Elena wants to feel ashamed by what happened. She and Damon totally lost control of themselves. They let the situation go that far, and it never should have happened. She's not ashamed though, because deep down she still wants more, and she doesn't care that they lost control; she only cares that they got caught. But Stefan is the one who interrupted them, and Stefan is her boyfriend. She knows that's wrong, and that should mean what she and Damon were doing was wrong, but how can something that feels so right be wrong?

"We were-" Elena says before shaking her head. She tries again, "We were sharing thoughts again."

"Yeah, but it wasn't just that," Damon points out. "It was-"

"So much more," Elena finishes. "I couldn't stop it, it was-"

"Uncontrollable." Damon suggests. "It was-" He was going to say _Amazing_. He doesn't say it.

Elena agrees. _It was Amazing. _She doesn't admit what she's truly thinking. Instead, she reminds, "It was a spell. We have to call Bonnie's Grams."

Now that she's pointed it out, Damon knows it's the right thing to do. They are under a spell. They should call Sheila Bennett and tell her. They should go straight over there and fix this problem now. But he doesn't want to.

Elena watches Damon climb off the bed and pick her pants up from the floor to put them on. After buttoning them, he turns to face Elena and her mouth falls open in shock. She jumps up and points at the huge hickey just above her collarbone, exclaiming, "Oh my God. Did I do that?"

Surprised, Damon swirls around to look in the mirror. _Damn, that's a huge hickey_! He chuckles quietly before answering, "I guess so." Elena's face is so horrified, Damon can't help but laugh.

"This isn't funny," Elena says with a shake of her head. "What is so funny? I mean, besides the fact that I did this to _myself_, what is funny? Stefan is going to see this." An idea pops into Elena's head and she grabs Damon's hand, tugging him towards the window where he entered. "Come on, I can fix it. But I need to get over to my room. That's where my makeup is."

Damon agrees, but pulls his hand free from Elena's grip, because he can feel the pent-up desire creeping back. He doesn't know if he can trust himself being this close to her. The heavenly touches and fiery kisses are still fresh on his mind, coaxing him to finish what he started. He still wants Elena, wants _all _of Elena.

"Probably shouldn't touch," Damon says quickly. "Not a good idea right now."

Elena nods solemnly. He's right. She still has a fucking hard-on from their crazy moment, and it's just starting to go away. She can't risk it coming back, as much as she'd like it to. _Where the fuck did that come from? She'd like to have a boner? _But it's true…she wants it, so she can _use_ it, and even though the thought of using Damon's body to have sex with her own still sounds wrong…somewhere deeper inside of her, she knows it would be worth it. Because somehow, it wouldn't just be having sex, it would be **more**. What would their minds do then? _I need to know._

"Definitely not a good idea," Elena backs up Damon's words. "I think we're under some kind of love spell…"

Damon stares at Elena longingly. He nods his head, unable to speak because his mind is singing praises to Elena right now. Isn't she lovely? Yes, she's lovely. She's beautiful. She's perfect. He loves her…but he doesn't _really _love her. He _doesn't._

_Do I?_

Damon climbs the tree and swings over to Elena's room first. He watches Elena grab the branch firmly and throw herself forward. The branch groans loudly in protest, and Damon is scared the branch is going to crack and toss Elena to the ground in his body, but thankfully it doesn't break. Damon grabs Elena's hand to help her in the window and then releases her quickly. He doesn't know what he grabbed her for. He just said they shouldn't be touching each other. She was already inside the window. He didn't have to try and pull a Stefan and do the gentlemanly thing by rescuing the damsel. Besides, he's the damsel, she's the one in the male body. It's just weird…but _**God does he want her!**_

Elena ignores the sound of her heart pounding loudly against her ribcage and smiles at Damon unsurely. She doesn't know how much more self-control she has. That magnetic feeling is sucking her in to Damon again…Elena fights it this time, though. She needs makeup. She keeps her mind focused on getting the makeup. She tears her gaze from Damon and starts looking through her makeup case for concealer and two different kinds of foundation.

"Sit," She tells Damon, patting the chair in front of her vanity.

Damon obediently sits, and immediately closes his eyes so he doesn't have to look directly at Elena as she applies the makeup to the hickey she gave him. She squeezes the concealer on to her fingers before gently rubbing them against Damon's neck, feeling like tiny sparks of heat explode under her touch. Damon takes in a sharp breath and holds it. His whole body is reacting to the feather-light touches of two fingertips on his neck.

Damon warns, "You need to hurry."

"I'm trying," Elena says, slightly panicked. _Oh fuck! Why do my lips look so yummy right now? Ugh, I want to kiss him so bad...so bad it fucking hurts. Why does it hurt? _"Okay, okay..." Elena pats the powder foundation over the now invisible hickey, "I'm done."

She throws the foundation down and backs away from Damon quickly, turning to grip the dresser tightly as she takes a deep breath. Behind her, she can hear Damon take a long breath too, the first one since she started applying the makeup. Without looking back, she grabs her pink cell phone from the nightstand and announces, "I'm calling Sheila. We have to...We have to do something about this."

"Yeah," Damon agrees in a husky tone as he gets up from the chair, "We do..."

Elena's hands are shaking as she scrolls through the contacts for Sheila Bennett's number, but Damon grabs her hand with his smaller, olive-colored one. Elena stops. Damon finishes what he was saying before, "Not that though...I need to know." He takes the phone and throws it away from them. Elena twirls around to face him, unsure whether to be angry or admit she was thinking the same thing. She knows they shouldn't do this, but Damon's eyes say _this is happening_. He uses all of Elena's strength to push his own larger body backward onto the bed behind them.

Elena uses her last bit of will to warn Damon, "We're not going to be able to stop this time." She saw the clock before; it's late and everyone has left her house for work or school. There's no one to interrupt them...

Damon climbs on top of her body, straddling what he knows and doesn't care is his body, because once he has his lips on hers, he sees _her_ again. And it's really _her_. Elena. He captures her lips, and when he closes his eyes, he's kissing Elena's lips rather than the other way around. Their minds connect in an instant, his reply to her warning responding, _I don't want to stop._ He doesn't know what came over him, but when she tried to call Sheila he felt he desperately had to stop her. He needed to finish what they started so they both could find out what would happen. Now that they are One again, he knows she needs to know too.

Elena can't explain how, the second their mouths touch, she is completely lost in Damon. This time, her desire for him is more powerful than before. She can see him in his form; when her hands touch his chest, it is his, and his lips are _his_ lips. She can't comprehend, but sure is appreciative, because his body is wonderful. She has no idea when their clothes came off, or if that's just the fantasy, but she relishes in the heat of his skin on hers. She devours his mouth, tasting him with her tongue, and loving every moment of it. She feels so perfect, so amazing, she wants to cry.

Elena is like a goddess and Damon can't believe he never noticed how beautiful she was before. She makes him feel safe and warm and he doesn't know why. She makes him forget Katherine ever existed. How could she even compare to Elena? Elena is perfection. He could write a million songs about Elena and it wouldn't be enough. Katherine was a selfish bitch with a pretty face, and he doesn't care that Stefan stole her, because he has Elena. Elena is _his._ For once, it's not about payback or Stefan at all. Elena was made for him. He can feel it in his heart and soul. He can feel it in her kiss and her touch. She can feel it too. She kisses him passionately, her mind telling his, _I'm yours._

At this point, in the real world, - you know, where Elena and Damon obviously _aren't at _right now - they've stripped their bodies of all their clothes and are laying naked against each other. Every inch of skin in contact with another: nose to nose, chest to chest, toe to toe. They have been kissing and touching, rolling over each other for dominance, seeking the ultimate pleasure for what feels like hours to them...and _actually is_. It's almost noon, and at just after one this afternoon, if the spell isn't reversed, they will be stuck like this forever...But they are in ecstacy, so they don't care.

* * *

Damon and Elena are close, so close, to completing what they started and finally learning what happens when they do. They are high on lust and fueled by desire, but also deeply connected on a level they never knew existed before. If they had it their way, they'd be making love for the next week straight and not even stop for a drink or food. In fact, if Bonnie hadn't walked in when she did, Elena and Damon may have started a sex session that lasted the rest of their lives.

"Guys!" Bonnie yells, clapping her hands over her eyes when she sees that Elena and Damon are buck-ass nude on the bed. Her Grams was right! They are under a _very_ powerful love spell. "We have exactly forty-five minutes to fix this or you're stuck like this forever!" She hopes they can hear her, and that they aren't still...whatever it is they were doing. She doesn't even want to know. Were they having sex? Were they _about_ to? Did they _already_? She doesn't know, but she needs to help her best friend before she's stuck loving Damon Salvatore the rest of her life. "Elena! Damon! Stop!" She practically screams before she has their attention. "Get dressed! We have to go now!"

Somehow, Bonnie manages to keep their hands off each other long enough to get the two of them dressed and in the back seat of her car. It was almost impossible. She wasted at least twenty minutes, if not more. Now that they are in the back seat of the car together, they have resumed sucking face. Bonnie can't believe this is happening. She has seen and heard way too many weird things this week. Her life is never going to be normal after that. Her best friend is in Damon Salvatore's body, and he in hers, and they're trying to have sex with each other. How could that get any weirder?

Sheila runs outside to help Bonnie when she sees her granddaughter's silver car pull into the driveway. She opens one door, and Bonnie the other, and they each grab an arm of one of their spellbound lovers, separating them as they drag them to the house. Sheila has the protesting petite brunette, and Bonnie has the confused blue-eyed boy. Sheila feels very guilty for what she's done to these poor kids. Ayana is showing them no mercy. She either believes these two are soul mates and are meant to be together but don't see it, or they've disrespected her in some way and she's seeking revenge. Sheila can't think of another reason, and she hopes for their sake it is the first one, because otherwise the ghost of Ayana will be haunting them for eternity.

"Quick, sit down," Sheila orders sternly, guiding Elena's body into a chair. She set the room up exactly as it was yesterday, and gathered all the supplies she needs for the counter-spell. Bonnie helps Damon's body into the other chair, and steps out of the way. She hopes this works. Sheila instructs, "Hold hands." She quickly gets the spell materials together, lights the candles, and begins the counter-spell.

Damon stares across the space between their bodies at Elena's eyes. They never did it. They came so close, but they didn't get to it before Bonnie interrupted. They still didn't finish what they started, and now they never will because the spell has to be broken. Damon feels disappointed, Elena too, but as the counter-spell starts to take effect the disappointment subsides. The urge to touch each other also fades, quickly being replaced with other, suckier emotions; like guilt, embarrassment, and shame. Sure, they were influenced by a spell, but they still remember every tortuous detail.

The ride home is silent. Bonnie doesn't ask any questions, and Elena is grateful. This is why Bonnie is her best friend. Damon is starting to see that Bonnie is a really good friend also. Elena may only be close with two girls, but they're obviously great. Elena is a good judge of character. Bonnie is trustworthy and loyal and smart. She also has Caroline, who is fun and honest and a good friend.

_All right, _Damon sighs, _Elena was right. We should have resisted. We should never have messed around while under that love spell. Now I feel like..._this.

Elena thought about it the entire ride home, which wasn't that far but enough time, and she made a decision. After Bonnie drops them off at home, which is where they wanted to go, not school, neither of them can handle school after what happened this morning, Elena asks Damon to wait. "I know all of that was a love spell or whatever, and that we couldn't control anything, but...I think you have to break up with Stefan for me."

That was definitely not what Damon was expecting Elena to say. "What?"

"I feel _so_ guilty," Elena confesses. "Stefan is already so suspicious of us, and before he had nothing to worry about, but now this? How can I keep pretending everything is fine after what we did? You have to break up with him. I'd do it myself, but," she rolls her eyes, "I can't. Besides, you owe me for what you did with Tyler. That's another reason I can't be with Stefan. If he finds out, I'm screwed anyways. Please, Damon? Do this for me?"

She's actually begging him to break up with Stefan? He'd love to break Stefan's heart. That would make his day. Well, not today, because regardless if they were spelled feelings or not, he still remembers feeling _amazing_, so that makes it a pretty good day in his book. Still, he doesn't mind breaking up with Stefan. He just feels bad for Elena, because he knows this isn't what she wants. She wants to do what she thinks is right. She doesn't want to feel like a cheater or be accused of being one. _She's too good of a person_. _Wait, if the spell is gone...why am I still thinking like this?_ Damon shakes his head and answers, "Yeah, okay. I'll do whatever you want me to." _I'll do whatever you want me to? Are you kidding me? _

"Thanks," Elena smiles gratefully. "Can you be nice about it? Tell him it's not his fault, he didn't do anything wrong; it's just me. Don't make him hate me."

"How could anyone hate you?" Damon asks without thinking. Did he just say something really nice to Elena? He did...

"I don't know..." Elena says thoughtfully, "You do?" She is only teasing, he can tell by her smile. He can read everything about her now. Half a day under a love spell and he already knows every expression, even with her wearing his skin.

"Ha-ha," Damon fake laughs, "Funny. So, do you want me to do it today?"

"I guess so," Elena replies.

"You know, you don't have to do this," Damon levels with her, "I won't tell him anything."

"I know you won't," Elena confirms, "But I really do have to do it. Maybe when we're switched back, I'll ask him to give me another chance, I don't know. Maybe it's better this way."

She doesn't know what she wants anymore. Yesterday, all she wanted was to get back in her own body, fix all the problems Damon created for her, and move on with her life. Today is a whole new story. The spell didn't work and she doesn't know when she'll be changed back. And the love spell made her connect with Damon in ways she doesn't know she can even speak of. Her _'love' _for Stefan seems so silly after what she experienced. _It was an enchantment, _she reminds herself. But it felt so real. Even if that passion and fire wasn't real with Damon; that's how it should be. That's how love is supposed to feel. That's what Elena _wants_. She doesn't have that with Stefan.

"Okay," Damon nods, "I'll talk to Stefan later..."

"Thank you," Elena replies. "Well, bye..."

"Bye." Damon has the urge to kiss her, just to see if it still feels anything like it did before, but he restrains himself. He needs to stay away from her for today, and get through this break-up with Stefan, and then sleep it off. Tomorrow, shit will go back to normal.

Elena tells herself a similar mantra. Tomorrow, things will be better. If they're not, then she'll worry about it then. One day at a time. Her mind is swirling with different emotions, but mostly she's confused. She did learn one thing from this mess, though. That is, _no more witchy experiments_. Magical intervention didn't work, and she can't take any more of it. The curse will sort itself out. Then she'll sort herself back out again.

* * *

**Review! **I hope that was not too weird! Let me know what you thought:)


	9. Chapter 9 The Art of Breaking-Up

**You Guys Are Amazing! **Thanks for all the interest in this story! I am so grateful for the follows/favorites/reviews. This was my longest gap between chapters, and I think it's only been 3 days? I should have another update tomorrow though:) I'm glad most of you really liked the last chapter and weren't too confused. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews!

**Special Thanks to**: CamJ, curiouswriter, Guest, DelenaVD, SuseTVD, Tara Rebecca, vivianafrancesca, Skating-on-glass, galeanthrope, LoveMeant2BE, Nikkii23, fashionista1988, PunkMuffin, kaybaby1127, MadDam-De-Mort, DeeReadinQueen, Siljaros1994, & Pippa783 for reviewing last chapter! I appreciate the feedback:)

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing **

**Ch 9. The Art of Breaking-Up**

Elena waits anxiously in Damon's bedroom after Stefan disappears inside the Gilbert home next door. Elena chews on her bottom lip nervously and wonders if she's doing the right thing. She likes Stefan, a _lot_, but taking into consideration all that has happened this week, she doesn't feel right about all the lies. For the most part, the blame falls on her, and that is why she told Damon to make sure Stefan knows this is all on Elena and not him, but…Elena can't help feeling that some of this is Stefan's fault. Sure, she and Damon's bodies somehow swapped, and Damon made some really stupid decisions while in her body, but the one thing she can't get out of her head is the side of Stefan she never saw before inhabiting Damon's body. Stefan isn't who she thought he was, and she doesn't know if she can get past that. Even if she wakes up tomorrow morning in her own body, she doesn't know if things will ever be the same.

Thirty minutes later, Stefan leaves the house alone. Elena watches from the window to try and assess how he took the break-up. Is he mad? Is he upset? Does he care at all? She can't tell, and Stefan doesn't come inside; instead, he gets in his car and drives off.

Elena texts Damon: **How'd it go? **

Damon replies: **Come over here. **

_Uh-oh_, Elena wonders, _Does that mean it didn't go well? _

Since Giuseppe and Isobel are still at work, same with Grayson and Miranda, Elena opts for using the front door. The tree between her and Damon's room is convenient, but only during emergencies. Besides, Elena is normally not too fond of heights, so she'd rather not risk falling out of her second story window to the ground.

Elena knocks on the front door and waits for Damon to answer. She almost forgot about Jeremy…

"Uh…what are you doing here?" Jeremy asks, after opening the door to reveal the other Salvatore brother. He can't remember Damon ever coming over before, and Jeremy knows how much shit he gives Lena, so he's skeptical to listen to a word the raven-haired teen says.

"Hey Jeremy," Elena greets with a smile. She hadn't realized how much she's missed Jeremy until right now. It seems so strange that her own brother doesn't even know what's happened to her. She wonders what he thinks of her recent behavior. "Is Elena here?"

"Yeah…" Jeremy replies, making no moves to tell his sister she has a visitor. He doesn't invite Damon inside either. "But, you didn't answer my question."

Suddenly, Elena's voice echoes through the hall and downstairs, "If that's Damon, let him up!"

Jeremy rolls his eyes and steps aside, motioning for Damon to step in. Elena smiles gratefully and waves before scrambling up the stairs to her bedroom. Damon is standing just inside the doorway when she walks in, and he swings the door shut and locks it after she steps inside.

He gives her a pointed look before suggesting, "Maybe the window is the best option for now? I mean, you don't need Jeremy being suspicious of us too. He knows we don't talk."

"I know," Elena replies, "I thought no one was home." With that out of the way, she sits down on her bed and prompts expectantly, "So? What happened?"

"Well, he's not happy," Damon answers, taking a seat beside her.

"Most people aren't after they've been broken up with…" Elena reminds hesitantly.

"Oh, you're so funny, aren't you?" Damon says cynically. "I thought you'd want to know what he said after."

"What did he say?" Elena asks, wishing Damon would stop playing games and get to the point.

"Well, he tried to talk me into having a 'break' instead of ending it," Damon says, using air-quotations as he says_ break_.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Elena interrupts.

"I don't know," Damon sighs, "That's why I said no. Just shut up for a minute, Elena."

"Fine," Elena pouts, but keeps her lips shut.

"He wanted to know what my reasons are, and he straight up asked if you wanted to break up because of me…" Elena opens her mouth to speak again, but quickly closes it when she sees the warning look Damon gives her, "I said no, of course. I don't know if he bought it. But he did say that he wished I'd reconsider because…" Damon drops his shoulders as he sighs, "He loves you."

"What?" Elena screeches, jumping up from the bed and pacing the room. "You can't be serious. He really said that?" At first, it was a relief to hear, because she'd been thinking she was in love with Stefan before this whole body-swapping mess happened, and she wanted nothing more than for him to reciprocate those feelings. But…shouldn't she know if he loves her? Shouldn't she have been able to read the signs? Wouldn't she have felt that pull, that _spark_, that **fire**, like with Damon? Well, not because of _Damon_, but because of the love spell. If Stefan loved her, it would've felt like _that_.

"He said it," Damon confirms, "And I didn't know what to say. So I just told him it wasn't right, and it wasn't working for me, and he left. That's it."

Elena is still stuck on the 'he said he loves you' thing. She can't believe Stefan said those words to her and she didn't even get to hear them herself. She had to hear them through Damon. So how can she know if Stefan was genuine? If she'd been the one to hear it, she'd know. She'd know if he was telling the truth or just saying what she'd want to hear to save their relationship. He must have thought if he said he loved her, she'd change her mind about breaking up with him. That's got to be it. With that conclusion, Elena voices her opinion, "He doesn't mean it. He doesn't really…love me."

"Not to make this harder," Damon says cautiously, "But…I don't know. He's never said that to a girlfriend before. He might," Damon shrugs, "mean it." Damon doesn't believe his step-brother would throw around such a strong phrase unless he genuinely meant it. Then again, he's never seen Stefan be broken up with. Stefan is usually the dumper, not the dumpee. So maybe he didn't mean it then. "I don't know, Elena."

Elena looks at Damon and explains her thoughts, "Even if he thinks he loves me, he doesn't. He doesn't love me. He doesn't know what love is if he thinks he loves me."

"And you know?" Damon wonders.

Avoiding eye contact, Elena supplies, "Yeah...I do." She doesn't want to tell Damon she knows what love is because of their recent experience, he'd think she was admitting she was in love with him when she's not, so she keeps her answer nice and simple. She used to think love meant something else too, and now she is sure there are many people out in the world who think they are in love when they aren't. Sometimes it's easier to pretend, than to admit what you have isn't working. Elena will never do that, no, never. Now that she knows exactly what it feels like to be totally and completely consumed by love for something, she won't settle for anything less. She will have a love like that.

Damon wonders what Elena is thinking about, but he doesn't ask. He's not sure what her response will be to him prying deeper into her life, and they've been getting along pretty well, so he doesn't want to ruin their tentative friendship. He has to say, things have definitely been better since they've been working together. Trashing each other's lives is obviously not going to get them back in their own body, but maybe working together will. Maybe Ayana wants them to help each other? Damon doesn't know, but he's sick of witches and sick of this game. If Ayana wants something from him and Elena, she should just **say so**! Not fuck up their lives for her enjoyment.

"Why do you think Tyler hasn't told anyone about…you know…what happened?" Damon asks, changing the subject. He and Elena are going to have to go back to school tomorrow, and missing a day after the stunt he pulled on Friday might not have been the best idea. He figured if any rumors had started, Stefan would have known and therefore accused him - _Elena_ - of cheating. He didn't though, which means there must be no rumors. Or none that have reached Stefan's ears yet.

Elena's eyes widen like she hadn't even thought about that. "I don't know. You think he kept it a secret because he thinks it was a mistake too? And maybe he won't tell Caroline or Stefan at all. Maybe he won't tell anyone."

"Don't get your hopes you too soon," Damon warns. "He could be waiting until you – or _I_ – are there to announce it. You know, make the whole situation that much more humiliating."

"What?" Elena frowns, pressing her hands into her forehead in frustration as she asks, "Like-like revenge for not actually sleeping with him? Or what? Why would he do that? Why the fuck are guys so damn frustrating? Who does that to someone?"

"Whoa," Damon cuts in, "Chill, woman. I just said he _could_ do that. Maybe he won't say anything. I don't know. But it's better to expect the worst, don't you think? Then at least we'll be prepared for it."

"How do we prepare for it, Damon?" Elena asks incredulously.

"Just let me handle it," Damon says coolly. "I am you, anyways. And you are me, so _you_ don't have anything to worry about. If he talks, I'll kick his ass."

"Uh, you're gonna kick his ass?" Elena asks with an eyebrow raised. She laughs and comments, "No offense, but you're not exactly strong enough to kick Tyler Lockwood's ass when you're stuck in _my_ body."

"It's not all about size, Elena," Damon argues, "I bet I could still take him. He'll never see it coming." He tries to make a badass pose, but Elena can't take it seriously on herself. It looks pathetic. It's laughable.

"All right, Ninja Warrior, simmer down..." Elena smiles good humoredly, "You do realize you're going to have to come up with a different plan, right?"

"Like I said before," Damon reminds, "Let me handle it."

"Okay, fine," Elena concedes, "I'll let you handle it. But you better promise me that Caroline will still be my friend after all of this. I don't even care about anything else. She doesn't deserve this to happen to her...Tyler cheating on her with her best friend?" She shakes her head, "It'll break her heart. And she deserves way better than that dumb, two-timing, conceited, jock...douchebag! I need to figure out how to get her to break up with him...and then find her someone good..."

Damon isn't sure if Elena is talking to him at this point, or just talking out loud to get her thoughts out. He's been listening to every word though, and formulating a plan of his own. Distractedly, he comments, "Klaus...he loves Caroline." He continues thinking over what he's got to do to make sure Caroline and Elena stay best friends. If he can fix that, he knows he'll finally stop feeling guilty about what he did. And, okay, maybe he wants Elena to realize he's not that bad of a guy. She's not as bad as he originally thought either...

"Klaus?" Elena repeats, face wrinkled up in thought. "I don't even think Caroline knows who he is..."

"Exactly," Damon states. "I was only joking anyways. So tomorrow, meet me here after school, okay?"

"Okay," Elena agrees, taking that as a signal that she should go. It is getting late and her parents will be home soon. Plus, if Stefan comes home and sees Damon leaving, he'll definitely question Elena's reasons for breaking things off. "I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

After the final bell at school on Tuesday, Elena walks out to the parking lot with Klaus. She hasn't talked to Damon all day, but she also hasn't heard any crazy rumors about herself either, so she isn't sure what that means. Did Damon threaten Tyler? Did he decide he didn't need to? She hopes he has answers once they both get home.

Ironically, Klaus announces, "So I heard Miss Caroline Forbes broke up with Tyler Lockwood today. How long did that relationship last? A week?"

"They did?" Elena asks, slightly panicked. If Caroline broke up with Tyler, then that can only mean she found out about what happened on Friday! "Do you know why?"

"Not really," Klaus replies with a shrug, "I heard some stupid girl ask her friend if she thought she'd have a chance with Tyler now. Pfft...the answer was no, but I didn't tell her that." Elena laughs at Klaus' joke as Damon would have. "But other than that, I haven't heard a thing. I wonder how Caroline's doing."

_Me too._ Thankfully, Elena didn't say that out loud, or Klaus would have definitely wondered why on Earth Damon cares how Caroline Forbes is doing. Instead, she uses this as an opportunity to test Damon's theory. Does Klaus really like Caroline? And if so, is he good enough for Elena's best friend? She asks in a lightly teasing tone, "Why do you care?"

Klaus rolls his eyes at his friend's obvious question. "You know how I feel about Caroline; she's _perfection_. She may not know me...yet, but one day she'll realize we're meant to be."

Elena smirks, "Well, what are you waiting for? It's Senior Year; your last chance, buddy."

Just then, Elena hears Caroline's voice squealing, "Elena!" She jerks her head around before remembering she's kind of in Damon's body, so Caroline isn't calling for her. She's calling for...Elena turns until she see's him, - well, herself - Damon. Caroline runs over and hugs her best friend, huge smile on her face as she tells her loudly, "You were _so _right! He said exactly what you said he would. I can't believe that **pig**! Thank you for being the best friend _ever_!" She hugs Elena again.

"Wonder what that's about," Klaus muses quietly.

"I don't know," Elena replies, catching Damon's eyes for a moment and raising her eyebrows questioningly.

"So...like you were saying; it's my last chance. What about you?" Klaus prompts, knowing look on his face when Elena turns Damon's blue-eyed gaze on him.

"What are you talking about?"

Klaus rolls his eyes, "Mhmm, right. What am I talking about?" He pauses for dramatic effect before saying, "_Elena_."

They've found Klaus' red Mustang, and Elena waits as Klaus unlocks it, staring at him over the top of the car. "Again, what do you mean? What about her?"

"Oh, come on!" Klaus laughs, "I'm not stupid, Damon. There's something going on with you and her. Don't say there's not."

Elena hops in the car beside Klaus and shuts the door before explaining, "Well, whatever it is, it's not how you're thinking it is. We're...sort of friends, I guess. I don't know. But it's complicated."

"Since when do you have _complicated_, _sort of relationships _with girls?" Klaus frowns in a concerned way as he repeats his best friend's worrying words back to him. "That's...highly unusual of you. I don't know what to say. What's so complicated about it?"

"I already told you, I don't like her like that," Elena insists. "We had to work on a project together, and I realized she's not so bad. That's it. We're not hooking up or anything. We don't even really hang out. We just talk, sometimes. Not even that much."

"Why'd she break up with Stefan then?" Klaus quizzes, not buying the 'we're barely even friends' story after seeing Damon and Elena pass notes and sneak off together on more than one occasion. He doesn't know why Damon won't tell him about it though. He always tells him about the girls he's fucking.

"I don't know, she didn't tell me about that," Elena says, hoping Klaus will believe him. "Not because of me. All right? Can we go now?"

Klaus starts up the engine. "Whatever you say, Damon, whatever you say."

After pulling out of the parking lot, Klaus asks, "So, when do you think you'll be getting a new guitar? Less than three weeks now until the big competition. We have to have our registration in by Friday. What are we doing? Ric says you haven't been answering his calls."

"Yeah, I was, uh, busy this weekend," Elena bluffs. Why didn't she think to ask Damon about this stuff yesterday? She wasn't even thinking about Damon's band or the new guitar. "But I'm getting a guitar today."

"You are?" Klaus asks, surprised. "Where'd you get the money?"

"I've been saving," Elena answers; first truth to all the questions, "For...life after high school, but this is important too."

"Sweet, dude," Klaus grins. "So we're definitely on for the competition?"

"Yeah," Elena replies after a second a hesitation. This is what Damon wants. Hopefully he'll be back in his body by then, but if he's not, she'll have to ask him for lessons. He'll have to teach her how to play. "Definitely."

* * *

Damon doesn't know how but he beat Elena home. He waits impatiently on the porch, eager to gloat about the excellent result of today's performance. He totally saved Elena and Caroline's friendship _and_ got her to dump Tyler Lockwood all in one day. Elena should be very happy when she gets here. Damon smirks. She'll definitely forgive him after this. Even better, Stefan has football practice today, so he doesn't have to worry about Stefan catching him with Elena. _Her with me; whatever. _Jeremy didn't come home right away either, so him and Elena will have the house to themselves.

When Klaus finally arrives with Damon's body, Damon doesn't know what to do to hide the obvious fact that he's outside waiting for their arrival. He quickly unzips Elena's backpack and reaches inside for any random book he can find. He pulls out the first book his hands grasp: Math. He rolls his eyes before flipping it open and pretending to read.

Elena waits until Klaus drives away to back-track to the front porch of the home she's lived in since her early childhood. She rolls her eyes and asks, "Are you kidding with this? You're supposed to be casually reading your math book? Yeah, that's something I totally do on the regular..."

"Shut up," Damon says habitually. He slams the book shut and slips it back into Elena's maroon-colored backpack. He unlocks the door and lets himself and Elena inside. "I didn't know what else to do. So, how was your day?" He smiles smugly and waits for Elena to ask about what happened with Caroline and Tyler.

Elena smiles back, humoring him, "My day was fine, and yours? Anything, I don't know, interesting happen with you today?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Damon drawls slowly.

"Come on, details!" Elena insists, "Don't make me beg for details on my own life."

"Fine, but you're no fun," Damon comments. "So, yesterday, after you left, I called Caroline and told her I needed to talk to her about something..."

Damon, as Elena obviously, told Caroline that on Friday, Tyler was flirting with her hardcore and it was disgusting. He said he suspected Tyler was going to cheat on Caroline, and that to prevent it from happening, Elena took it upon herself to test Tyler's faith. He failed. He came on to her, trying to get her to sleep with him, and Elena refused. Damon says that when Caroline asked why Elena didn't tell her first, he simply replied that he didn't know if she'd be mad and not believe her best friend without proof; some girls get crazy when they are involved with a guy. Caroline bought the whole story, even the part about Tyler probably insisting it was Elena who came on to him to save face. Caroline resolved that she would break up with Tyler's sorry ass, and to help make sure a rumor wouldn't start about Elena, she threatened him to keep his mouth shut.

"What did she say to him?" Elena wonders.

Damon chuckles, "That she'd tell everyone how small his dick really is." He motions with his fingers a very small amount of space. "I guess it must really be small, because he agreed to her conditions. See, what'd I tell you?"

Elena smiles and can't resist giving Damon a hug for his efforts. "Thanks. I can't believe everything worked out so well." She heads to her closet and assures him, "Well, I have a surprise for you too."

"What?" Damon queries. He doesn't like surprises, so he follows Elena to the closet to see what she's up to.

"Close your eyes," She orders. "I have to get something and I don't want you knowing where I keep all my important shit."

Damon reluctantly closes his eyes and Elena sneaks her hand into a shoebox where she hides her cash for her personal college savings; you know, birthday money and stuff like that. She doesn't know how much it costs to buy a nice guitar, but she hopes five-hundred will buy him a decent one, because she doesn't have more than that to spare.

"Okay," Elena announces after securing her money once again, "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" Damon asks, dumbfounded.

"To buy you a new guitar," Elena replies with a grin, flashing him a glimpse of cash. "Is five-hundred enough?"

Damon nods. "Are you sure? Right now? Really?"

Elena laughs at his excitement. "Yeah, right now. I told you I'd buy you a new one. You deserve it. You've done a lot for me the past few days, and I'm really grateful. So thanks."

"Well, I...I was the one who messed everything up for you in the first place," Damon reminds her, "So, I owed you. But thank you too."

Elena and Damon leave to get a guitar, neither noticing that Stefan came home early from practice and saw them leaving together...

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**Please Review! **What do you think is going to happen next? Anything you'd like to see happen with Damon and Elena? I love suggestions:)


	10. Chapter 10 On The Same Team

**Finally! Chapter 10! :) **Thanks so much for reading this story, for all the follows/favorites/reviews. I had a little bit of writer's block on this last chapter for some reason, and I think it had something to do with the little D/E short-story I wrote this past week. (It's called My Love Immortal, and it's a short 8-part story, complete; check it out!) But I finished that, so I should be good now. I hope you guys are happy with the update:)**  
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**Special Thanks to: **Skating-on-glass, VampAmbsxox, fashionista1988, kaybaby1127, vivianafrancesca, MadDam-de-Mort, DeeReadinQueen, LoveMeant2BE, W-anted-xo (guest), Korndog, curiouswriter, & Mansi (guest) for reviewing last chapter! I really appreciate the feedback:)

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**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 10. On The Same Team**

It took about three hours to come to a decision, but Damon finally settled on a new guitar. He picked it up, started playing, and just _knew_ that was the one he had to have. He could see himself rocking out on stage with this guitar, and that meant it was The One. Plus, it was a cool blue color, and it was in Elena's price range. Enough said.

Elena thought it was funny to watch her fingers strumming the guitar like an old pro, when before Damon was in charge of her body she'd never picked up a guitar in her life. He was really good. Better than Elena thought, and admitting that to herself made her feel like a jerk. Her opinion of Damon before this all happened was not a good one. She reminds herself that it was his fault, mostly, that her opinion of him sucked so she can't feel too guilty. And she's learning that he really isn't as bad as she thought he was. That's a good thing, _right? _Sheila Bennett advised them to work together to get their bodies back, and that's what they were doing.

_We kind of don't have a choice..._Elena thinks as she hands over the money for the guitar to the guy behind the register.

"Nice choice," The 'Guitar Expert', as the cashier's name tag boasts, comments on the guitar. He is wearing all black and has long dreadlocks down to his mid-back. He checks out Elena's body appreciatively as he asks the girl, "Is it your birthday?"

"No..." Damon replies slowly, "Why?" Elena rolls her eyes at Damon's oblivion to the creep's stare.

"Well, you have a pretty awesome boyfriend then, to get you such a nice gift..." He shrugs and hands the receipt and the change to the tall, dark-haired teen and adds, "And you're not doing so bad either."

Damon wants to laugh in this idiot's face for assuming they are dating, but he decides to play along instead. It might be fun. Turning towards Elena, he plays the part of the 'girlfriend'. "Aw, yeah, isn't he the best?"

The cashier watches the brunette slide her arms around the guy's waist as she bats her eyelashes at him before planting a kiss on his cheek. The blue-eyed teen smirks and returns the girl's hug. She says, "Thanks, _baby_, I love you!"

Elena catches the playful look in Damon's eye and she smirks and replies, "Don't forget what you promised me, _babe._"

"Oh, I didn't," Damon purrs, licking his lips suggestively.

"Well you two are all set. Have fun..." The cashier cuts in awkwardly.

"Oh, we will," Damon throws a wink at the guy over his shoulder as he grabs Elena's hand and drags her out the door. Once outside, he lets her hand drop and grips the guitar case with both hands, smiling at Elena as he says, "Thank you, you really are the best."

Elena shrugs off the compliment, but she's smiling over the little trick she and Damon played on the cashier. _If he only knew the real situation. He has no idea..._

"So I guess I'll have to teach you how to play," Damon says as he gently places the guitar case containing his new guitar in the back seat of Elena's car. "Since Klaus and Ric will want to practice now that you've got a guitar."

"Yeah..." Elena nods, "I guess you're right. But, what if I suck? I mean, what will Klaus and Alaric think?"

Damon gets in the driver's seat of Elena's car and thinks it over. "I don't know. They'd think something was definitely wrong. You can't suck."

"Well that makes me feel better about it," Elena replies with a frustrated sigh.

"That's still my body, those are still my fingers," Damon insists, "They have to remember how to play."

"It might be your fingers, but my head is in here, and I don't know how to play guitar, Damon!" Elena crosses her arms over her chest and looks out the window, away from Damon.

"We'll figure it out," Damon tells her reassuringly, catching her completely off guard.

Elena notices, "Hey, we're right by the museum."

"Yeah, so?" Damon and Elena aren't psychically linked anymore so he doesn't know what she's thinking.

"Maybe..." She starts slowly, her thought still forming in her mind, "...if we go back to Ayana's spellbook, it will somehow put us back where we belong."

Damon frowns thoughtfully before agreeing, "I guess that could work. We might as well give it a shot."

"We better hurry though," Elena warns, "I think the museum closes in like ten minutes."

Elena was right, the museum is closing in less than ten minutes by the time they park and walk in. They hurry through the exhibits to the exhibit their class visited last Tuesday. It isn't hard to find the huge spellbook displayed under a large glass case in the middle of the room. Damon and Elena approach together, both staring at it warily, waiting for something to happen.

When nothing does, Damon prompts, "Well, go on, say something."

"What am I supposed to say?" Elena whispers, nudging Damon's arm with her elbow. "You say something."

"You're the know-it-all," Damon reminds, "And this was your idea."

Elena clears her throat and taps the case lightly with her fingers as she says, "Hello Ayana...uh, how are you?"

"She's a witch, Elena, not your Aunt Betsy," Damon says with a roll of his eyes, "Is that the best you can do?"

Elena shoots a glare in his direction before starting over, "We're the two that you, you know, cursed and swapped our brains? I'm sure you remember. Well, the thing is, we-"

"_We'd _really appreciate it if you turned us back now, okay?" Damon cut in with a bossy tone, pointing at the spellbook and shaking his finger angrily.

"Please," Elena adds quickly, "If we did something to offend you, we're really sorry. We didn't mean to argue, and I know maybe it seemed like we didn't like each other at the time, but we're fine now. We learned our lesson, and we're good. Right, Damon?"

"Yeah, we're totally cool," Damon agrees. "Sure, we were fighting, but all friends fight sometimes. And Elena and I, we're very close. But like, being in her body? That's too close, you know what I mean, Ayana? We won't fight anymore, that's a promise. Right, Elena?"

"Right," Elena nods, "We definitely won't. I'll bet this whole thing was just a misunderstanding, right?"

"Yeah, and we're not mad at you or anything," Damon says, even though he's lying because he hates this witchy bitch. "We just want to be ourselves again. No harm done. And I like Elena; who couldn't like Elena? She's smart, _way_ smart, and sometimes she can be funny, and she's...uh, neat, and a good friend. And she's pretty, especially when she laughs and her nose does that cute thing..." Damon realizes he's getting a little too personal talking about Elena being cute; _What the fuck is wrong with me? _"We just get along well, and you have to see that now."

Elena smiles at Damon, who isn't looking at her, and adds, "Damon and I are actually really close now. And I think after all we've been through we finally understand each other a little. So, let's give this a try, okay? We'll count to three and then you change us back."

Damon starts, "One..."

"Two..." Elena says.

They both close their eyes as they say, "...Three..." They wait a moment before opening their eyes, but their view hasn't changed. They're still mixed up.

"Well that didn't work," Damon lets out an exaggerated sigh.

"Let's just go," Elena says dejectedly. She really thought that would work, but it didn't. She didn't even feel like suggesting they wait until the morning to see if the magic took over-night like it did the first time; what's the point in wishful thinking? They are obviously going to be stuck like this forever. She has to forget about everything she ever wanted: Yale, marriage, kids. She can't do those things in Damon's body. Her life as she knew it is over.

On the ride back to their houses, Damon and Elena are both silent, each entranced in their own thoughts. They are both thinking the same thing, though they don't know it. _Why is this happening? Will anything ever be normal again? How can I live in this body? What about all my dreams? My life is over! _Neither of them really considered their situation could get any worse. They'd already hit rock bottom. Right?

Well, they are about to find out that isn't quite true.

Stefan has been waiting hours for his step-brother to get back with his recent ex-girlfriend. He's been wondering what they could be doing the whole time they were gone, and of course he was thinking the worst. _Damon is fucking Elena_. And he is fucking furious. He thought Elena was different, that she wouldn't do that. She wouldn't be like Katherine and try and play both of them because she couldn't decide which one she liked better. Stefan knew Katherine only chose him after she knew Damon was lost to her, but Stefan wouldn't be her second choice. Elena didn't pick him as a second choice. She was his. But she wouldn't sleep with him, and Stefan didn't know why. What was wrong with _him_? Why would she fuck Damon instead?

When he sees Elena's car pull into her driveway four hours after leaving with his step-brother, he storms outside to meet them. Both of them look surprised to see him, like they hadn't remembered he even exists. _Guilty._ That's how Stefan thinks they look. Stefan glares daggers at Damon before stomping over to him and shoving him backwards with all his might.

"Stefan, don't!" Damon yells with Elena's voice, watching Stefan curl his hand into a fist before slamming it into the face that _Elena _is stuck wearing. Damon runs between them and shoves Stefan off before he can punch Elena again, holding Stefan's body tightly to keep him from going back again. He can feel how angry his step-brother is just by how tight and rigid his body is. Damon thinks three things at once: _Stefan just punched his ex-girlfriend in the face; It should have been me; Now Stefan definitely doesn't have a chance with Elena._

Elena stares at Stefan in complete shock, clutching her left eye and cheekbone, which are both throbbing. _He just hit me!_ Elena can't believe that happened. She is grateful Damon interfered before Stefan could break her nose or something. Stefan is still furious and shaking, and he obviously was hoping for a fight. Elena has never been in a fight, but she is pissed, and she does have Damon's strength...

Damon glances over his shoulder to see if Elena is all right, only to see her arm flying past his face as she socks Stefan in the nose with a sloppy punch. It was off-center, but for a girl, pretty damn impressive. Damon thought he'd find Elena crying, not seeking revenge, but he can't help but smile for a moment. Stefan's nose is bleeding. _Damn; Elena broke Stefan's nose! _It's probably not actually broken, but Elena's punch damaged more than Stefan's.

Elena isn't through with Stefan even though she nailed the punch. She says angrily, "I already told you nothing is going on with us! Why can't you just let it go? Besides, you're not even together anymore!"

"Which is exactly what you wanted! Admit it, you fucking piece of shit!" Stefan screams.

"Hey! Whoa, this is between you and me," Damon speaks up, his words not entirely untrue, "Not you and him. Nothing is going on, Stefan. Just calm down."

"How can I believe you? You broke up with me yesterday and now you're with _him?! _Do you even know what you're doing? Why would you do this, Elena? He's not worth your time," Stefan comments disapprovingly.

"Maybe you're the one who's not worth her time!" Elena says stubbornly, wishing she were in her body so she could speak for herself. Stefan is being an asshole, and he's being jealous for no reason. He didn't catch them making out or having sex or _anything _inappropriate, so he has no reason be acting so out of control!

Damon wants to prevent any more physical fighting, so he suggests to Stefan gently, "You should go in and clean yourself up. You're bleeding..."

Stefan's eyes flash angrily at his step-brother once more before he turns away from Damon and Elena. The front door slams shut loudly behind him. That didn't go down the way he wanted it to, definitely not. But he still punched Damon, and that was something he's been wanting to do for a while.

"Are you okay?" Damon asks Elena once Stefan is gone. He checks out his own face and grimaces at the puffy, red condition of his left eye. Elena should be crying right now; that is going to be a nasty black eye in the morning. She's holding herself together really well.

"It hurts, but not that much," She shrugs. "I think the adrenaline is masking the pain. I never hit anyone before. That was actually kind of fun...I want to do it again!"

Damon laughs, "Well, it's going to hurt later. Come on, you should come inside with me and I'll get you some ice." He leads the way to the front door of Elena's home. This is the first time Damon will be coming in with Elena when Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert are home, and Damon doesn't know how they're going to react. He whispers to Elena before opening the door, "Should I sneak you up stairs or will your parents be okay with this?"

"I'll go right up to my room; you distract them," Elena directs, "And get me ice. It's starting to hurt more...It burns, oh my God, it burns."

Damon opens the door and lets them both in quietly. He heads right to the kitchen, where he can hear Miranda and Grayson talking as they prepare dinner. Actually, he sees after he walks in that he was wrong, they're eating take-out. Chinese. He stomach grumbles as he smells the food, but he has to worry about Elena first and food second.

"Hi honey, where have you been?" Miranda questions her daughter. "Was Jeremy with you?"

"Hi Mom, hi Dad," Damon returns with a plastic smile. "Oh, nothing, I was just shopping with Caroline and Bonnie. I haven't seen Jeremy since school."

"Where is that boy?" Grayson grumbles to no one in particular.

"Probably with Anna," Damon supplies with a shrug. "I don't know."

"Well, I'll call him after dinner," Miranda tells her husband with a nod of her head. "Do you want some Chinese? I got your favorite: chicken lo mein and mixed veggies with white rice." On cue, Damon's stomach lets out a loud grumble, again. Miranda hears and laughs, "Oh, Elena, you're starving!"

"I know, but I really have to get started on my homework," Damon explains as he discreetly holds the ice pack he snuck out of the freezer behind his back. "I'll get some after."

"Just bring it up with you, silly," Miranda suggests, quickly gathering the food she bought specifically for Elena and puts it on a plate with a plastic fork, so it will be easy for her to carry upstairs. "Here you go, honey."

"Thanks Mom," Damon smiles as he takes the plate and heads for the stairs. He figures Elena must safely be upstairs by now. He successfully distracted Miranda and Grayson, although it really wasn't that difficult. Elena's parents are so...nice. They're almost _too_ nice. They must suffocate their kids with love. No wonder Jeremy is never home and Elena is Miss Perfect.

Once upstairs, Elena snatches the ice pack from Damon's extended hand and flops down on the bed. She presses the cold pack to her swollen, throbbing eye and moans at the contact. It hurts but feels good at the same time. She relaxes for a few minutes before she hears Damon stuffing his face. She cracks open her one good eye and demands, "What are you eating?!"

"Chick-mmfm-ell-mmheein," Damon replies with a mouthful of Chinese noodles.

Elena sits up, commenting dryly, "Cute. Give me some; I'm starving."

"No, your mom got this for _me!_" Damon jokes, sticking his tongue out at Elena for being stuck in his body at the moment. Then he laughs and says, "Kidding, here, take some."

"Feed me," Elena whines miserably.

"Oh my, I thought it didn't hurt?" Damon teases, reminding Elena of her words only ten minutes before.

"That was before," Elena pouts, "It hurts now. A lot. Please?" Damon rolls his eyes before twirling some chicken lo mein onto the fork and holding it out to Elena's mouth. She smiles and lets out a small chuckle before opening her mouth and taking the delicious food. She chews and swallows, and then requests, "Now a baby corn? They're so cute and yummy."

"You're crazy," Damon laughs, "What the Hell is a baby corn?"

"The little mini-corn-on-the-cobs..." Elena points them out to Damon in the mixture of vegetables. "Don't tell me you've never had a baby corn."

Damon spears one with the fork and holds it up to his face for inspection. "What the fuck are you?" He asks it, frowning indecisively. "It's a mutant freak."

"It's a baby corn," Elena insists, "Eat it, or give it to me!" Damon cautiously puts the mutant corn to his teeth and takes a small bite. It actually tastes good. He eats the rest of it and then gives one to Elena before she yells at him. She thanks him before saying, "See, it was good, right? And you thought I was crazy."

"It was good," Damon reluctantly admits. "But you have to tell me; what the heck are these white things?"

"It's a water chestnut," Elena informs him with another laugh. She can't believe he's never had baby corn or water chestnuts. "Are you not a Chinese-food person?"

"Not particularly," Damon says, "But it's good every once in a while."

Damon spends the next twenty minutes sharing his food with Elena while she ices her eye, talking about their favorite foods and other random topics that have never come up before. They both almost forget about the fight that happened with Stefan, or that they're going to have to explain the black eye at school tomorrow to everyone. Today, they realized in more than one way that they are on the same team. They have to work together to get through this, whether Ayana turns them back tonight, tomorrow, next week, or never. They are stuck with each other, and they don't really have a choice, but that's kind of okay. It's not so bad being stuck with each other anymore. Damon has helped Elena realize things about herself that she never did before, and things about Stefan too. In turn, Elena has helped Damon in more ways than one.

That isn't to say they both don't still have some issues, though. Damon is still worried Elena won't be able to learn to play guitar in time to save his band. Elena is scared she'll have to give up her dreams of going to Yale if she doesn't get her body back. Plus, they both have damaged reputations thanks to each other, and that's a hard thing to fix in high school. A very hard thing. But as long as they have their friends, and possibly _each other_, they can make it through.

"So...should we do homework?" Damon suggests after they've eaten.

Elena snorts, "I can't believe you just said that. But yes, we should. You can do mine for me too." Damon raises an eyebrow in an expression that clearly reads, 'you've got to be kidding me', but Elena reminds, "I can only see out of one eye right now. And it's supposed to be **you** with this black eye, so help me out! I'll give you the answers, and you write them down."

"Okay, okay," Damon agrees, "You're right." And if she was giving the answers, it really wasn't asking too much.

After they've finished with their homework, Elena's ice pack is lukewarm, and she thinks it's time she should head home and go to bed. It's been a long day. "I should go, but tomorrow, want to meet after school and give me a guitar lesson? It's Thursday, so there's no Student Council or anything."

"Yeah, sounds good," Damon nods. He eyes Elena curiously before asking, "Are you going out the window? With your backpack, and a black eye? Are you sure you'll make it?"

"Well don't point out how many odds are against me!" Elena says, nervously eying the window, the tree, and the ground below. _Oh God, I'm gonna die! _"Great, I can't do it."

"Yes you can," Damon chuckles, taking the backpack from her as he offers, "I'll bring this over. You just worry about you getting there. Go on, you go first." Elena carefully swings over to Damon's bedroom via the tree, and Damon follows with his backpack, which he puts on the floor at the foot of his bed. "See, piece of cake."

"Thanks," Elena says quietly with a smile. She doesn't want Stefan to know she's home now. In fact, she locks the door right then so she doesn't have to worry about him barging in. If he's still mad, he could try and hit her again, thinking she's Damon...or kill her in her sleep. No. Stefan wouldn't do that. He's not completely psychotic. She asks Damon, just to make sure, "Stefan's not gonna like, I don't know, smother me with a pillow while I'm sleeping, is he?"

Damon covers his mouth to muffle the laughter he couldn't contain at Elena's ridiculous question. After letting all the giggles out, he says, "That was a good one, Elena."

"Okay, so no then?" Elena repeats since that wasn't an answer.

"Of course he's not going to kill you," Damon replies. "Just relax. It'll be fine. We fight all the time. That was nothing." Damon isn't so sure though. Stefan isn't going to let this argument go so easily. Something is different this time; Elena really was special to Stefan. Damon thinks Stefan really does love her, or he **did** love her, and he's mad. Damon knows how he feels. He loved Katherine, and Stefan stole her from him. But Damon hasn't stolen Elena, so they just have to make Stefan see that. "Just don't make him suspicious. We should try to be more discreet. Unless you really want to be getting into more fist fights with Stefan."

"No, I change my mind," Elena says with a groan, "I never want to get in a fight again. I'm going to bed."

"Good idea. Goodnight, Elena," Damon says, feeling the urge to give her a hug. He knows he probably shouldn't, but for once, he goes with his gut. He steps forward and hugs his body awkwardly, surprised when Elena returns the hug without hesitation. "Goodnight, Damon," She whispers.

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**Please Review! **I've been feeling so iffy about this chapter, let me know what you think. Suggestions would be nice:) I'd love to know what you want to see happen with Damon and Elena; they're still stuck in each others bodies for a bit longer...

If you'd like to read more D/E by me, read my short story: My Love Immortal (it's complete)

Also, check out **DeeReadinQueen**'s new story The Babysitter; it's also D/E. Elena is the new nanny for the Salvatore twins, Katherine and Emily (haha, it's great), and Damon and Stefan make a bet on who can sleep with the nanny first. It's good:)

Thanks! You guys are awesome:)


	11. Chapter 11 If I Were Me, & You Were You

**You guys are seriously amazing! **Thanks so much for reading/reviewing/reassuring me on the last chapter:) You have no idea how happy it makes me to read all of your reviews:) I finally fit in some Damon/Elena guitar practice, like a lot of you have been hoping for, so I hope you enjoy:)**  
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**Special Thanks to: **VampAmbsxox, Scarlet . Nyx, Anon, Guest, galeanthrope, bellax0xchristina, DeeReadinQueen, Nikkii23, Skating-on-glass, kaybaby1127, fanficsareawesome, creativefuir, DelenaVD, vivianafracesca, MissSecretlySinful, & curiouswriter for reviewing this chapter! (: You guys are awesome! **  
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**DISCLAIM (haven't done one in a while, so just wanted to make sure everyone is aware...) - I don't own Vampire Diaries or It's A Boy Girl Thing. Simple as that.  
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**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 11. If I Were Me, And You Were You**

"What the fuck happened to you?" Klaus asks when his best friend climbs into his car Thursday morning sporting a horrendous black eye.

Elena sighs and resists the urge to roll her eyes, since she did it once already and it hurt like a bitch, as she gives Klaus his answer in one word, "_Stefan_."

"What the fuck for?" Klaus demands; adding as an afterthought, "You better have hit him back, too."

"I was with Elena, and Stefan got really, really mad," Elena explains, "But we were just hanging out. It was nothing. He overreacted about the whole thing. Anyways, yeah, I hit him back. His nose started bleeding, but I don't think it was broken."

"Damn," Klaus cursed, "That would've been awesome. What did Elena do?"

"She pulled Stefan off me," Elena re-tells Damon's actions yesterday evening to the blonde-haired teen beside her, "And she actually stuck up for me. It was cool of her. She let me ice my eye in her room, and did my homework for me." Elena smirks as Damon would.

"She likes you," Klaus says in an annoyingly knowing tone. "I can't believe you didn't call me last night or text me or anything. What ever happened with that guitar? Did you get it?"

"I did," Elena boasts, "And it's awesome. You'll see it...next time we have band practice." She didn't bother replying to his previous comment about 'Elena' liking 'Damon', because she _is _Elena, and she knows how she feels. And _she_ certainly doesn't _like _Damon. She only likes him, as a friend. And that is shocking enough in itself! If Klaus knew what was really going on, he wouldn't be thinking that at all.

"Well, what about tomorrow?" Klaus suggests, "I think Ric has to work at seven, so we could meet at four?"

"Uh..." _Oh shit, oh shit. I haven't even had one lesson yet. Tomorrow? Tomorrow?! _"Yeah," Elena replies, like a dumb ass, "Tomorrow. Friday. Four o'clock. I'll be there."

"Okay..." Klaus frowns at his friend, "Are you sure Stefan didn't knock your brains around a little? You're acting weird."

"I'm fine," Elena insists. _Just wondering how I'm going to learn to play guitar in one fucking day, that's all. __**No big deal or anything!**_

After arriving at school, Klaus turns to get a good look at the black eye on Damon's face. "Dude, that looks bad. You should have had Elena put some make-up on it, since you're such good _friends _now."

"I'm two steps ahead of you, man," Elena says with a laugh. Now that they've arrived at school, she has to forget about the guitar thing, or she'll be sweating it all day. She has to focus on school. _High school. As if this shit wasn't already stressful enough. Thanks a lot, Ayana. My life..._

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Damon arrives at school way earlier than he usually does, with the 'pink make-up bag', as specified by Elena. He goes to the girls' bathroom in the Art Wing, which is the least crowded in the mornings, according to Elena. She, Bonnie and Caroline apparently always meet here to 'check their make-up and talk about their plans for the day'. _Total eye-roll. What a girly thing to do. Check make-up. Pfft._

When Damon opens the door to the bathroom, he is surprised to see someone inside. It's Caroline. She turns her back towards the door, hiding her face from him, well, _Elena. _The blonde turns on the sink and avoids the mirror, running her hands under the water quickly as she talks over it, "Oh. Hey, Elena. I didn't think you'd be here so early..." Damon wonders what she's doing, until he hears the tell-tale sign of crying; sniffles.

_Uh-oh. I'm not good with tears. _Damon racks his brain for something Elena would say if Caroline was crying. "I left early this morning...what's wrong, Care?"

"Oh nothing." Caroline huffs, "Everything. I don't know...Tyler's seeing someone else. Already. It's just, I know I broke up with him, but I didn't think he'd move on so quick. We _just _broke up! I really meant nothing to him."

"What?" Damon asked incredulously, "Gross, who would get with him anyways? Oh. Sorry. That was such a stupid thing to say."

Caroline giggles and then pouts again a split-second later. She says in a squeaky voice, "You only don't like him because he hurt me. You liked him last week...you know, until he-he turned into a giant dick!"

"You're too good for Tyler Lockwood, Care," Damon points out. "Who cares if he's the Mayor's son? You're Caroline Forbes! You're a triple threat; strong, smart _and _beautiful. You're going to be somebody someday. Tyler? He's just another football player. Whoop-dee-doo. He's not going to be anybody in ten years."

Caroline hugs her best friend and says, "Thanks, Lena. You always know what to say."

Damon can't believe he actually made Caroline feel better. _And where did all that motivational crap come from? Elena. It has to be Elena. She's making me soft..._Damon hugs Caroline back, "It's what best friends do..."

Just then, Elena walks in, with Damon's body, and Caroline informs him, "Uh, _Girls' Room!_"

Damon whirls around and says, "There you are! Come on, let's do this before anyone else gets here."

Caroline frowns before asking curiously, "What's going on?" Since when does Elena hang out with Damon? And what is he doing in the girls' bathroom? And..."Whoa, what happened to you?" That is _some_ black eye.

"It's kind of a long story," Elena replies, feeling happy to at least see Caroline up close and talk to her for the first time in over a week. She misses her. At least Bonnie knows about the switch-up, so she can talk to her. Caroline has no idea what's going on with her.

"Not really," Damon points out, "Stefan saw you with me. Stefan got jealous. Stefan punched you. You punched him. The end."

"Thanks Elena," Caroline giggles. "So wait, why was Stefan so jealous? Actually, why _were_ you two together?"

"Uh..." Damon looks to Elena for an answer and shrugs because he has no idea how to explain that one.

Elena decides to tell Caroline the truth. Why shouldn't she know? "You don't want Caroline to know we've been hanging out? Are you embarrassed of me, Elena? I thought we were friends?" Elena pouts dramatically.

"Shut up," Damon says with an eye roll, "I never said that. Yes, Caroline, Damon and I are friends. We sometimes hang out. It's no big deal." Changing the subject, Damon asks, "Can we cover-up this ugly eye now? Before fifty girls flood in here and start asking questions."

"Someone's moody this morning," Caroline comments. "And that color isn't going to work on him," She points to the cover-up in Elena's hand. "No, it's too dark. I have some. I think you're more my color, Salvatore. I suppose I'll let you have some of my make-up. But only because that eye is really, really-"

"I know, it's bad," Elena finishes for her. She's already been told by every single person who's seen her this morning. She looks like shit. Well, _Damon_ looks like shit.

"Here, close your eye," Caroline orders, "I'll fix you up. But you owe me."

"Okay," Elena answers right away, happy that Caroline gave her the opportunity to do something she's been thinking about since...since yesterday. But she's eager to do some good while in Damon's body, and she can help make Caroline happy, so that's a plus. "How about I get you a date, for tomorrow night?"

"What, with you?" Caroline asks disinterestedly, "No thank you."

"Not with me," Elena laughs at Caroline's reaction. She really isn't a fan of Damon. Maybe she'll change her mind, like Elena did, though. He's not so bad once you get to know him. "But someone else. You'll like it, I promise. You'll have a good time. And if you don't, then you can...punch my other eye."

"You're crazy," Caroline comments with a laugh. "I don't know..." Caroline looks over her shoulder at Elena and mouths, 'Help me'.

"I think you should do it, Care," Damon suggests with an encouraging smile. He knows Elena is trying to set Caroline up with Klaus, and he thinks that's pretty cool. _Another cool move by Elena Gilbert. Has the world gone mad? _"You can trust him; Damon's cool. And like he said, if your date sucks, you get to punch him. It's a win-win situation."

"I guess," Caroline agrees reluctantly, "But you have to make it a double-date then. And you," She points at Elena, "Are coming with him," She points her other finger at Damon. "Deal?"

"Yeah, okay, deal," Elena smiles. "So tomorrow night. Seven o'clock?"

"Better make it eight," Caroline suggests. "I'm cheering at the game tomorrow afternoon and I want to make sure I have time to stop home for a shower after." She steps back and smiles at the job she did on Damon's face. "Okay. You're good. I mean, it's not perfect, but it's _way _better than before! Now you better get out of here."

"Thanks Care," Elena says, shooting her and then Damon a smile and a wave before running out of the bathroom.

"That was weird..." Caroline laughs once Damon is gone. "Are you sure that was a good idea agreeing to go on a date with someone _Damon _is friends with? I mean, I don't know Elena, I guess if you're there it'll be all right, but...do you know who it is?"

Damon shrugs, feigning nonchalance as he replies, "Maybe...yes, I do. And he's a good guy. And he actually really likes you. So you should relax and stop worrying. It will be fun."

"He likes me?" Caroline asks, now much more curious to know who this mystery guy is if he has interest in her. "Is he cute?"

"He is," Damon nods, "And you two would be _super cute _together." Damon giggles in a girly way, as he thinks of how dumb-struck Klaus is going to be when 'Damon' tells him he scored him a date with Caroline. He has seriously been in love with her since he first laid eyes on her Freshman Year.

"Really?" Caroline smiles thoughtfully, "Okay. I'm in. Well, I'm really in now."

"Good."

* * *

After school, Elena meets Klaus at his car, as per usual. The blue-eyed blonde is waiting for his friend in the car with the radio on, but when Elena hops in, she immediately turns it off and announces happily, "Dude, you're gonna love me. Guess what the fuck happened today?" She's gotten better at speaking like a teenage boy, and hopefully Klaus will take notice. Damon told her to just swear a lot more and say dude to everyone. She could do that.

"Hey! I was listening to that," Klaus protests, flicking the radio back on but turning the volume down so he can listen to his friend's news.

"Pfft, hey, if you'd rather listen to that than hear what I've got to say..." Elena shrugs in a carefree manner. "That's up to you. Not my recommendation, but...entirely up to you."

"What?" Klaus sighs in annoyance. "Just tell me."

"What do you say about going on a double-date with me tomorrow night? After band practice, of course," Elena specifies mysteriously, hoping Klaus will be as happy as she thinks he will to learn he has the opportunity to go out on a date with Caroline Forbes. Sure, it's a double-date, but it's a start. Caroline would never have agreed to a blind date alone. Especially not proposed by Damon. But Elena is happy to be playing match-maker. After spending over a week with Klaus, she likes him, and she thinks he'd be good for Caroline.

Klaus raises an eyebrow and asks, "Double-date? With who?"

Elena smirks and says cheekily, "Guess."

Klaus' blue eyes widen and he narrows his eyes as he smiles slowly, "There's only one girl I'd be interested in going on a date set up by you with."

"And that is...?" Elena prompts.

"She'd never agree to it..." Klaus voices indifferently.

"Oh really?" Elena asks, eyebrows raised. "I guess I imagined it then, when I asked, and she said yes."

"Are you fucking with me?" Klaus demands, straight-faced.

"I am not fucking with you," Elena replies, equally serious. "Tomorrow night; you, me, Elena, and Caroline are going wherever you want. I'll let you pick that part."

"Seriously? Caroline agreed to go out with me?" Klaus gushes, sounding almost as excited as a teenage _girl_ would. That only makes Elena further believe she made the right choice when deciding Klaus would be a good guy for Care. Klaus talks the entire way to Damon's house about where they could go and what they could do on their date. It was very cute. He didn't even care when Elena admitted Caroline didn't exactly know the date was with _him_. In fact, Elena thinks it made him even more determined to prove himself worthy of a date with Miss Caroline Forbes.

"See ya tomorrow, Klaus," Elena calls as she climbs out of his Mustang.

"Later," Klaus returns, "And thanks, dude. You're the best."

_I'm the best! _Elena smiles. That's the second or third time she's been called 'the best' in the past two days. It feels pretty good to be 'the best'. She should play match-maker more often. It really makes people happy. But she doesn't want to congratulate herself too soon; Klaus and Caroline still have to get through that first date before considering their match made.

Elena was so distracted thinking about the Klaus and Caroline date that she forgot all about her first guitar lesson with Damon this afternoon. Unfortunately for her, Damon didn't forget, and he is ready and waiting for her when she arrives home. She knows she shouldn't be dreading this so much, that it's really important to Damon and she has to give it a try, but she's afraid to suck. She doesn't want to disappoint Damon. She doesn't want to be a failure. She's always been good at everything she chose to do, but they were all things _she_ herself picked. Playing guitar is Damon's thing. Not hers.

"What's up?" Damon asks, noticing the nervous look on his face as Elena approaches. "You ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Elena replies honestly. She wishes she could be more enthusiastic about this, but she can't. She's wary about Damon teaching her. What if he's an asshole? What if he makes fun of her? She can't work under that kind of pressure.

"Okay, well, come on," Damon gestures towards Elena's car, "We're going somewhere better for practicing."

"Where?" Elena asks curiously. Where could Damon possibly take them to practice?

"Ric's," Damon says, "He works on Thursdays from three to eleven, so he'll be gone."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure, now chill out," Damon suggests. "You are so uptight right now. I'm not going to be able to teach you anything if you can't relax."

"I'll relax when we get there," Elena huffs out an excuse. She knows he's right. She has to relax. She is used to cramming for a test or learning last minute cheer routines, but this is ridiculous. There's no way Damon can teach her to play his band's songs in **one** night! "This is impossible. Klaus and Alaric are going to know something is up. Maybe we should pretend you hit your head and now you're suffering from traumatic memory loss that resulted in you forgetting how to play guitar."

"Yeah..." Damon nods, pretending to play along, and then shakes his head, "...no. No, Elena. Let's not do that." He sighs, "I know this seems impossible, but we have to try. Can you please just try?"

Seeing the desperation on his face is what really makes Elena change her attitude. He's right. She has to at least try before giving up. What kind of person would she be today if she'd always given up on anything that seemed too tough? She certainly wouldn't be working her way towards attending Yale next Fall, wouldn't have been on the high honor roll since Freshman Year, and wouldn't be sitting in this car with Damon right now because she'd have given up on **life** by now. She owes this guitar thing a fair try.

"I'll try," Elena agrees reluctantly, "But I hope you're a good teacher, and I hope you're patient. Because it's going to take some time..."

"I said we have until eleven," Damon reminds, "And I could play guitar all day, every day, so I can be patient. Plus, why do you think I packed a whole bag full of snacks?" He throws a thumb over his shoulder indicating where the bag lies in the backseat.

"Oh." Elena comments, "You're really prepared. Okay..." _We're really doing this. Oh my God. I'm so nervous. I don't think I was this nervous the night I lost my virginity with Matt. Okay. Stupid thing to bring up when I'm already agitated and nervous! _

"I am prepared," Damon repeats. "This isn't school, Elena. This is my life after school. I actually care about this."

"I know," Elena tells Damon, looking him in the eyes as they wait at a red light, "I know you do. Why do you think I'm so nervous? I don't want you to hate me if I ruin this for you."

Damon blinks at Elena in shock. He almost doesn't realize the red light turned green. _She cares if I hate her? Of course she cares if I hate her. But...she actually wants to do this to make me happy. Why the fuck is that so hard to believe? _Because this is _Elena_ and she never cared before. "I'm not going to hate you."

"Okay, I hope not," Elena murmurs as she bites her thumbnail.

* * *

Three hours later, Elena and Damon are more than settled into Ric's 'living room', which is mostly a band practice area with a couch and a TV thrown into the mix. Ric has the two-bedroom home all to himself since his mom moved in with her boyfriend and left it to him two years ago, the year he graduated from Mystic Falls High. Alaric's dad died when he was twelve and it was just him and his mom after that. Damon and Klaus are always over though, so Ric doesn't feel alone too often. Damon wants to move in with Ric, get away from his house, but he's not eighteen yet and his dad forbid it.

Elena is sitting on the floor with the guitar in her arms, back firmly pressed against the front of the couch. Damon is sitting to her right so he can see exactly what she's doing, from the same point of view he'd be seeing if he were playing. He hasn't ever taught someone to play guitar before, and he never thought it'd be so hard, but Elena is being a good sport. It was a slow and rocky start, but she's beginning to catch on; finally. Damon knows it's impossible to hope she'll be able to learn all of the band's songs in a reasonable amount of time. Klaus and Alaric are going to suspect something. Maybe they'll figure out the curse, like Bonnie did, and they can solve this band problem together. Who knows. But Damon isn't going to just give up on Elena. He could probably teach her one or two songs, if they practice a lot.

"I can't do this," Elena complains, "This hurts my fingers, and it's doing nothing. I'm not learning anything. I'm still not learning _your_ songs, so what good is all this?"

"You need to learn how to play the chords," Damon reminds her for the third time, "Otherwise, you'll never be able to play the songs. And it does not hurt your fingers. Those are _my_ fingers, and they've been playing guitar for six years, so it can't possibly _hurt_."

"It hurts," Elena insists, "And this is boring. I can't just play these same four fucking chords over and over again tomorrow when Klaus and Alaric are expecting us to practice your songs."

"Could you complain any more, _Princess? _You knew this wasn't going to be easy. And you're doing pretty good, so quit your bitching. Want to take a break? Then I'll actually teach you a song written by the band." Damon bribes. He isn't going to have Elena give up on _him_ either. They are going to keep playing until she has something she can play at band practice tomorrow.

"Fine." Elena rests the guitar in the guitar case before digging through Damon's bag of goodies for something to snack on. She opens a bag of BBQ chips, places one in her mouth, chews it thoughtfully and then asks, "What is the band's name anyways?"

"You don't know?" Damon is sort of offended. He thought everyone knew. His own neighbor doesn't know his band name? That's not good. Maybe they aren't advertising enough. "The Originals."

"Oh...how..._original_," Elena jokes. "Kidding. It's cool, I guess."

"Klaus made it up. He got the idea from some vampire obsession of his," Damon shrugs, "I don't know. But Ric and I liked it, so The Originals it is."

"Vampires?" Elena repeats, "Oh, that's good. Caroline loves those Twilight books. They have something in common!"

"Like, oh...my...God!" Damon squeals in mock-excitement.

"Shut up," Elena laughs, throwing a chip at Damon's head. "She's my best friend. I just want her to be happy."

"And Klaus is mine, so do I," Damon says, "I hope Caroline isn't a total bitch to him tomorrow."

"She won't be," Elena says confidently, "Not with you and me there. She'll see how much Klaus likes her, and she'll give him a chance. I know her."

"Whatever you say, Gilbert." Damon shakes his head slightly and shoves the last of the cinnamon bun he opened in his mouth. He thinks they should get back to practicing now, so he tells Elena so, and she doesn't look happy about it, but she agrees. They settle in their previous spots on the floor of the living room. Damon sits a little closer this time, taking the guitar first in his hands to show Elena what she's going to be doing. He plays the whole song, and then breaks it down into pieces.

"Okay, my turn," Elena announces, extending her hands for the guitar. Damon hands it over and Elena holds the guitar the proper way that Damon instructed her before. She puts her fingers where Damon points out to start. She thought it looked easy when he was doing it, but now she doesn't know what to do next. She looks at Damon helplessly.

"Here, move up a little," Damon commands lightly. Elena does as she's told, giving Damon room to slide behind her and position his arms over hers. "Like this," He repositions where she'd been holding her fingers, and then guides her other hand, the one holding the pick, over the strings. He moves her fingers to the next position, "Then this." He shows her the next few chords and then asks her to play them back to him herself. She gets it right, so he moves on, and they slowly piece the song together once-through.

Elena likes Damon's teaching method. It's working. She only has one problem with it; he's touching her! And she knows it shouldn't feel so intimate and that her skin shouldn't tingle and her heart shouldn't beat a little faster...that is not normal. But if she was herself...it would be. It wouldn't feel so weird. _Yes it would! It's Damon! Yeah...it is...and he's being really nice and patient and not a jackass._ He's not the same person Elena thought he was before. He's actually trying with her. They haven't argued or anything in a while.

"What happened?" Damon asks, wondering why Elena suddenly stopped playing and started staring at him distantly.

She blinks and focuses her eyes on him, shaking her head slightly and saying the first thing on her mind, "You know, this would be kinda hot, if you were you, and I were me..." That probably wasn't what she wanted to say, but it's out there now. No taking it back once it's been said.

"What?" Damon wonders if he heard her correctly.

"I-I don't know," Elena tries to laugh off her embarrassing comment. _Wow. Totally ruined this guitar lesson. _

"I was just thinking the same thing," Damon admits sheepishly. That was why it was so funny to him that Elena said it. He would never have thought she'd say that out loud. She obviously didn't mean to. He's glad she did though. She must feel it to then; the strange pull whenever they are too close. It's almost like that love spell never completely left their bodies, or the body-switch caused some weird thing to happen when they touch, or..._or we actually have real feelings for each other? _Nope. Definitely not. It's anything but that. "But I'm not me and you're not you."

"Right," Elena confirms, "And it's weird. I know. Just keep going. Where were we?" She doesn't want to talk about it anymore. Maybe when they do finally get their bodies back she'll be able to have this conversation with him, but not now. Not like this. It is always going to be strange until they are themselves.

But what if it's not the spell? What if the way she feels are real, true feelings that she's developing for Damon? While under a crazy body-swapping spell...does that sound any more insane? She can't deny that she feels _something_ for Damon, even if that something doesn't have a name, but she can't confirm that it's not caused entirely by this spell Ayana placed them under. If it is, she can only hope things will go back to normal. But...if it's real, then what does that mean for them? Why are they still trapped in each others bodies? Shouldn't having feelings for each other return them to their original state, by default? Isn't that always how it works? Sheesh, what are movies for if they're always wrong?

Elena makes a promise to herself that the moment she and Damon find themselves back in their proper bodies, she's going to kiss him and see if it feels anything like it did before. If it doesn't, she'll be able to move on and forget about the whole traumatic experience, but if it is anything like she imagines it will be...she's going to be in a whole lot of trouble. _Because that'll mean I'm falling in love with Damon Salvatore. _

* * *

**Please Review! :) **What do you think Delena & Klaroline should do on their double-date? How do you think band practice is going to go?**  
**


	12. Chapter 12 TGIF Part 1

**Welcome to TGIF Part 1(: **This chapter kind of took off in its own direction...so I hope you guys like it haha. I started out thinking I was going to write a little bit about what Elena and Damon were doing before the date, but then it turned into 10 pages of figuring out what to do for the date, and so this is what I ended up with!

Anywho...I really appreciate all the follows/faves/reviews! You guys are absolutely amazing(: I just want to give you guys a heads up: This story will probably be concluded around Chapter 20. So about 8 more chapters and this story will most likely be over. I'll be starting my new story, which you guys voted on (Poll is still on my profile page if you want to vote!) and is also a D/E, of course, :)!

**Special Thanks to: **Skating-on-glass, VampAmbsxox, MissSecretlySinful, MadDam-de-Mort, noobishere, DeeReadinQueen, KellyJo93, DelenaVD, kaybaby1127, & fashionista1988 for reviewing last chapter! I appreciate it! Hearing your feedback makes my day(:

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 12. TGIF Part 1**

Elena fell asleep Thursday night while listening to Damon's band's playlist on his iPod, so it's not surprising to her that she wakes up Friday morning with the songs stuck in her head. She is surprised that she feels the urge to pick up the guitar though and start to play. Damon never taught her how to play the song stuck in her head, only played it for her once, but…somehow, when she picks the guitar up, her fingers know where to go.

_No fucking way_…Elena thinks to herself, _Damon was right. His fingers __**do**__ remember what to do! _She picks at the strings quietly and listens to the tune. It's the song! She smiles through her confusion and wonders how in the world this is possible. Fingers don't have memory; brains do. _How do they know what to do?_

Instead of wasting more time trying to figure out _why_ she can miraculously play the song, she hurries to get dressed so she can tell Damon the good news. All she has to do to play the songs is listen to the iPod._ That sounds crazy…but it worked_. This must be another strange side-effect of Ayana's body-swapping spell. No point in trying to figure out why it's working; it is what it is.

Unfortunately, Elena doesn't catch up with Damon in the morning, so she doesn't get a chance to tell him. Most of the day, Elena is pre-occupied wondering what will happen at band practice later, and then how the date with Klaus and Caroline will go, so she soon forgets about her new discovery. She can't believe her and Damon made it through the week without killing each other, or damaging their reputations further. She probably shouldn't think things like that…you know, being jinxed and all, she just may cause their luck to take a turn for the worse.

_Nah._ Elena shakes her head._ Things are finally getting better._

"Hey, my brother," Klaus calls as he catches up with Damon right after the last bell rings, "What's up?"

"Hey," Elena greets with a smile, "How's it going? So, did'ya figure out what we're gonna do with the girls later?"

"I've been thinking," Klaus sighs in exasperation. "But, dude, I don't know what we can do. I want to do something different from all the usual boring dates, but I'm practically broke, and Caroline is going to hate me."

"We don't have to do something that costs a lot of money," Elena says, hoping not to come off sounding too un-like Damon as she suggests, "We could just go to dinner and hang out, or go to the movies or bowling or something."

"Nobody goes _bowling_ anymore," Klaus complains, "Not since like the 80's. I want to do something Caroline will actually like, and remember." He gives Damon a warning look before adding, "And don't be a dick. You know how long I've been waiting for a chance with Caroline. It has to be special."

Damon might have given shit to Klaus for being so sentimental about this date, but since he is housing a _girl_ in his body, and that girl is Elena, she replies, "Well, I could talk to Elena and see what Caroline likes to do. And we'll figure it out at Ric's."

"All right," Klaus agrees, "That's a good idea. But practice is in less than two hours, so you better be ready when I come to get you."

"I'll be ready." Elena promises.

* * *

At the Gilbert residence, Damon arrives home, without Jeremy, and goes up to Elena's room for a shower. He is determined to shave Elena's legs, without cutting them this time, for the date later tonight. He thought having to shave his face was hard, but _this_ is a pain in the ass. Shaving legs is like way more trouble than it's worth. If he were born a girl, he bets he'd be one of those ones that insist on being au natural and has armpit hair rivaling the length of the hair on his head.

Thank God he's not actually a girl.

After shutting the water off, stepping out, and wrapping Elena's body in a towel, Damon goes to her bedroom to get dressed. He drops the towel to the floor before realizing Elena is sprawled out on the bed. Surprising the both of them, Damon lets out a high-pitched scream.

"What was that all about?" Elena asks with a confused laugh. "It's just _me!_ And I texted you…"

"I was in the shower," Damon replies, blushing red from embarrassment at being so caught off guard. At least it is only Elena though. He doesn't have to cover up his naked body because it's actually her naked body. He slips into Elena's robe and sits down next to his body on the bed. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you forgot everything I taught you yesterday."

"No," Elena shakes her head, "Actually, even better...you were right. Your fingers _do _remember how to play the songs! Last night, I fell asleep to your CD, and I woke up this morning and I could play 'Blood Brothers'. It was the strangest thing ever. Want me to show you? I brought the guitar."

"Uh, _yeah_ I want you to show me! There's no fucking way you can play 'Blood Brothers', I only played part of that song, and I was just messing around." Damon's eyes are wide and he motions for Elena to hurry and pull the guitar out of the case.

"I know, I know," Elena says, still just as baffled by the phenomena as Damon is. She settles the guitar in her arms and starts to play the song that has been stuck in her head all day. The guitar is an electric, and she's not plugged in to an amp because Damon's is at Ric's house, but Damon can hear the song clearly that Elena is strumming.

"Holy shit..."

"It's crazy!" Elena comments, "I don't know how it's happening, but I can play it. I wanted to tell you earlier, but I haven't had the chance all day."

"It doesn't make any sense," Damon states, "You couldn't play the songs last night. What the hell happened?"

"I don't know, Damon," Elena shrugs impatiently, "But at least now I can play something later that won't totally _suck_."

"You were doing pretty well playing 'Miss Mystic Falls' last night," Damon reminds her, still not wanting to believe she can _magically _play guitar over-night. He doesn't want anything to do with anymore witchy magic crap. It has only gotten them into trouble so far. "Maybe you should just play that one instead. Distract the guys with the competition sign-up sheet. I bet they never finished filling it out."

"I thought you'd be a little excited about it," Elena admits, frowning, "Wasn't the whole point of the lesson to teach me to play? Who cares how it happened as long as I can play?"

"Because it's too weird!" Damon admits, "I don't know what to think of it, and I don't like that."

"Well, in our situation, I don't think this is the worst thing that could happen," Elena insists. "Anyways, that's not the only reason I came here. Klaus wants tonight to be something memorable, but he doesn't know what to do. What do you think? I said I'd see what Caroline likes to do."

"Why the fuck are you asking me then?" Damon asks with a laugh. "I have no idea. I've never even been on a double date before."

"God, you're no help," Elena groans. "Come on, you said you want Klaus to be happy, right? He's not going to be happy if Caroline is _bored _on his date. What can we do?"

"You're **Caroline's** best friend," Damon points out, "Don't you know what her idea of a perfect date is?"

"She changes her mind like every day," Elena says, trying to think of the last time Caroline talked about going out and what she wanted to do. "She likes to feel special, and she thinks a guy who gives flowers is definitely a keeper. She wants to be entertained and she always says she'd like to date someone spontaneous. She hates movie dates because you can't talk to the person you're with. She loves to eat and loves dessert. She likes to drink too, but obviously we can't do that...um...she'll do anything she can still dress cutely for. I don't know. That's all I know."

"Okay, so then what's the problem?" Damon queries, solving their problem with two simple suggestions, "Let's go grab some food at the Grill, and we'll play pool: girls versus boys. If the girls win, we pick what we do next; if the boys win, you and Klaus will decide."

"That sounds fun," Elena says, "And I bet Caroline will think it's fun too."

They both hear beeping from outside, and Damon announces, "That's Klaus. You gotta go."

"Already?" Elena glances at the clock, complaining, "You take a longer shower than I do; I was waiting forever." As she packs Damon's new guitar into the guitar case, she says, "I should have forty bucks or something in the drawer of my night stand. Can you grab it for later? And don't read my diary!" She grabs the guitar case and runs out of the room.

Damon yells after her, "You keep a diary?" _Shouldn't have told me that..._Damon was never too good at resisting temptation. Elena pretty much just encouraged Damon to read it. She really should have known...

* * *

"So, I should buy her flowers then?" Klaus was asking, as he drove Elena to band practice. "I've only got fifty bucks to my name, and I need to save some for gas..." Klaus smiles sheepishly.

"It'll be enough," Elena says, "Buy her a rose; just one. Girls love roses. And we'll all split the cost of dinner. That's the whole point of a double date."

"If you're sure..." Klaus says slowly, disbelieving Damon really knows how to impress a girl like Caroline. She's not like the girls Damon usually goes for; slutty and stupid. Caroline may be slightly shallow, but she's smart and determined and so beautiful. "I can't wait. I don't even think I'm going to be able to practice. I'm just going to be staring at the clock waiting for it to be time to go."

Elena chuckles, "I'm sure Ric will understand. Oh, hey, that reminds me. Did we finish the paperwork for the competition? It's due today, right?"

"Uh, I don't know," Klaus answers, "I know we started it...Ric has it." He returns the subject to the date, "So what are we going to do after dinner?"

"Well," Elena says, acting as though she is re-telling tips given to her, _Damon_, by _Elena_, "Caroline likes to do something spontaneous and out of the ordinary, so we're going to challenge the girls to a game of pool. If they win, which they will, they get to choose what we're doing next."

"I like it," Klaus says with a grin, "So then the girls will definitely like whatever we do, because they're picking it."

"Exactly." Elena smirks. She's getting pretty good at that. It's actually kind of fun, too. And, Damon looks sexy when he smirks. But she'll never tell him that. "Think we could get any alcohol for tonight? Might be fun for later..."

"We can see if Ric has anything," Klaus suggests. Ric isn't twenty-one, but he's good friends with the bartender at the Grill, and he sometimes gives Ric a bottle or two of 'damaged' products.

When asked, Ric's reply is a sarcastic, "So, what, I don't see you for a week and a half, and you think I'm gonna just _give you_ alcohol? For free?"

Elena doesn't know Alaric too well, and she especially doesn't know his sense of humor, so she's not sure what to say. "I-uh...sorry? I can give you money..." Alaric has light brown hair and blue eyes and looks almost the same as he did two years ago when he graduated, which is the last time Elena saw him. He graduated when she was a sophomore, so it's not like she had class with him or anything, but she saw him around. She doesn't know that he's a jokester who generally uses sarcasm to convey humor, and it's hard to tell if he's kidding or not if you don't know him. Damon would have known he was kidding.

"I was **kidding**!" Ric shakes his head and laughs while he asks Klaus, "What's up with this guy?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Klaus replies with a shrug. "So is that a yes?"

"You're going out with Caroline Forbes tonight?" Ric repeats Klaus' words, before he asked about the alcohol. "Hell yeah I've got a bottle for you. I've got _two_ bottles for you." Then he turns to Damon, frowning, and questions, "What are you doing going out with Elena Gilbert?"

"We're just friends," Elena explains, getting a little sick of repeating this excuse to people. "And Caroline was the one who wanted it to be a double date. I only agreed for Klaus."

"So you don't have feelings for Elena," Ric asks, one eyebrow raised in disbelief, "_At all?_"

"No..." Elena says unconvincingly.

Ric and Klaus exchange glances before cracking up, "Bahaha! Okay, Damon, I believe you!" Ric rolls his eyes, "Klaus told me about how you've been together almost every day, passing notes, and trying to keep it a secret. Something is definitely going on."

"Are we here to practice, or are we here to throw around crazy accusations?" Elena demands. "Don't you guys want to see the new guitar?"

That distracts them for the moment, and Elena pulls the guitar out and passes it around to Klaus and then Alaric. Then, Elena focuses them on finishing their competition application, which they attach to an e-mail and send right away. By the time they're finished with all of that, they have less than an hour to practice some songs. They start with 'Miss Mystic Falls', which is the most recent song the boys wrote, but after they play through the song a second time, Klaus wants to take a little break.

"I think I need a drink right now," Klaus admits, "I'm nervous."

"Make one," Alaric suggests. "But we gotta get through a few more songs. We haven't practiced in almost two weeks."

"I know," Klaus comments with a laugh as he runs off to the kitchen to grab a beer or something. "I suck today!"

While Klaus is gone, Ric brings up Damon's neighbor once more, "So you ever gonna tell us what's going on with you and Elena?"

Elena shrugs, insisting, "It's nothing. I'd tell you if it was."

"Just seems kind of weird that you two start hanging out, I don't see you anymore...she breaks up with Stefan," Ric points out all the reasons it looks like Damon and Elena are sneaking around together, "And now you're going on a double date with her and Klaus. It's not really like you."

"I don't know what to say," Elena shakes her head.

"What happened with Rebekah?"

Elena thinks up something Damon might say, and shrugs, "I was bored of her."

"Thank God," Klaus says dramatically as he comes back in the room with a beer in his hand, "I was getting so sick of her hanging around."

"Not me," Ric pumps his eyebrows up and down as he smiles suggestively.

"You can have her," Elena says with a roll of Damon's blue eyes.

"All right, what should we play next?" Ric directs them back to the task at hand: band practice.

"Blood Brothers," Elena says, before they can suggest a song she doesn't know. She's really only comfortable playing these two. She hasn't practiced any others, and she doesn't know if she can count on Damon's finger picking up the song right away. She's still not sure how that works, so she doesn't want to push her luck.

Klaus and Ric are all right with the song selection, so they begin to play. Elena likes this song. She likes Miss Mystic Falls too, but she feels like the guys wrote it making fun of girls like _her _so it's not her favorite. It has a catchy beat, and some cool guitar riffs. The words are fun to sing, but not so fun when you are a girl and it's kind of an anti-girl song. Whatever though. _Boys will be boys_.

* * *

Damon tries to stay away from Elena's diary; he really does, because he knows she'll be mad to learn he invaded her privacy. He wouldn't want to look, would never have known it was there, if Elena hadn't said something about it, though. And if he wasn't so damn bored...

So Damon is very bad. He opens the diary.

The first few pages are 15-year-old Elena, re-capping her entire 15th birthday party, which is where she received this diary; from her Aunt, Jenna. Damon skims through Elena's relatively normal, boring summer, and then skips ahead to the start of Sophomore Year. He sees something about himself straight away:

_Well, the Salvatores were gone for the summer, but now they're back, and that means __**Damon **__too. I wish they'd left him behind in whatever country it is they visited this year. I almost thought I finally had a Damon-free schedule, but nope, that'd be asking too much. We have P.E. together after lunch:( And today, he announced to everyone that my boobs have __finally__ started growing 'into something more than just nips', as he put it. I hate him. _

Ouch. Damon doesn't remember saying that, but he believes the words written in bubbly, girly hand-writing. He was an asshole. Who is he kidding? He is an asshole, especially to Elena. Being sort of nice with her for less than a whole week doesn't make him no longer an asshole.

He reads on until he gets to an interesting passage from the beginning of October, one month into the school year...

_Dear Diary-_

_Today might have been the best day of Sophomore Year yet. Matt Donovan asked me to the Homecoming Dance! It was right after lunch and before P.E. (perfect timing, if you ask me) He was so cute! His face turned all red, even his ears, when he asked me, and I...I couldn't say no. He's cute and funny and cool. And he's not like all the other boys who act like a girl should feel special just for being asked out. That's really why I said yes. He was nervous, so that means he felt he had something to lose asking. That's sweet. So I said yes, and he smiled so big. It was so adorbs! He has the dreamiest blue eyes..._

_I can't wait for Homecoming!_

Hmm...so that's where Matt came into the picture. Damon wonders if that's when Elena lost her virginity, but he's interrupted by his, well Elena's, phone. It's Caroline.

"Hey Care," Damon greets, "How was the game?"

"We did great," Caroline replies happily, "Team lost the game though."

_Ha ha. Stefan lost. _Damon has to take a moment to laugh about that.

"So, I'm on my way over your house," Caroline announces, "I just grabbed my stuff so I can change and get ready there."

Damon thinks it's a little rude she didn't even ask, but he assumes that's normal Caroline Forbes behavior. "Sure...come on over. I'm in my room."

"K, see you in five!"

_Crap._ Now Damon really feels guilty for reading the diary. He feels down-right caught; almost like Elena just walked in on him reading it, but she hasn't. And he hasn't even gotten to the good part yet! He wants to know about Elena and Matt's relationship. What did he do to her? Why did he leave? Why did he break Elena's heart? He slams the diary shut and puts in back in the drawer where he found it.

Now he'll have to find out the old-fashioned way..._ask her about it._

* * *

"Can I come to your place to get ready?" Klaus asks before stating, "I need to shower. I was going to ask you to mine, but...Rebekah will probably be there, and I figured it'd be best to avoid her. She's still pretty pissed that you dumped her."

"Yeah, good idea," Elena agrees with a sideways smile. "Look! Flower cart!" She points at the flower stand this man in a white van always sets up at random street corners. He moves around every couple of weeks. It is totally by coincidence that it happens to be right near Alaric's on a day they need flowers.

"Nice, dude!" Klaus pulls over next to the flower stand and purchases one red rose for Caroline. He asks 'Damon' if he wants to buy one for 'Elena', but the raven-haired teen declines. After getting back in the car, Klaus makes the assumption, "You already fuck her then?" Based simply off the fact that Damon doesn't want to buy Elena a flower.

"Oh my God, Klaus," Elena laughs at his blunt question. "No! Jeez, you don't believe me? She _just _broke up with Stefan at the beginning of the week; I'm not rushing anything."

"So then you do like her?" Klaus says with a sly smile. He got Damon to slip, or so he thinks.

_Walked right into that one..._Elena thinks. Well, who cares if Klaus thinks Damon likes Elena? It's just Klaus. He's infatuated with Caroline. It's not like he's going to judge. "I don't know, maybe."

Klaus laughs, "I knew it. Why were you being such a sneaky bastard about it?"

Elena shrugs, "Because, like I said, she just broke up with Stefan. I don't know how I feel about her. I'm just taking it slow. Who says she even likes me?" What she means to say is, does Damon even like her? Because she thinks she might like him...Again, hard to decipher true feelings while under a witch's spell, so she truly doesn't know how to think about all this.

"Why was it so fucking hard for you to admit that?" Klaus reminds, "You know we've been best mates for four years. I think I know you by now. Elena's like gotten in your head, dude." _You have no idea how right you are, Klaus, my man. _"But I'm not saying it's bad."

"It's not?" Elena notes, "It'll never work with hi-er, her. Stefan wouldn't let it happen anyways."

"Since when has Stefan stopped you before?" Klaus asks without thinking. "Well, except for that one time, but that was four years ago now. If you really like Elena, Katherine shouldn't matter anymore. If it does, maybe this is still about revenge, and you've been doing it so long you've got your head all fucked up."

That might actually explain Damon's feelings, _if_ it were Damon sitting beside Klaus. But it's _Elena_, talking to Klaus about her feelings for Damon. And she doesn't have a Stefan/Katherine revenge-seeking vendetta. Elena shakes her head, mumbling, "Maybe you're right."

"Who gives a fuck if I'm right?" Klaus asks after noticing Damon's unhappy expression. "We're going out tonight, right? So just worry about tonight. We're gonna just party and..." He turns up the radio and starts singing along, "Bullshit! And party, and bullshit! And party, and bullshit! And party, and party..."

Elena has to laugh at Klaus' sing-along to Rita Ora's song, and maybe he's right. Fuck the problems for right now. Tonight is more about Klaus and Caroline. She and Damon are there to make sure their night is fun and special and memorable. It doesn't matter how she feels for him when she's stuck in his body and he's in hers; they've already established that. She is just going to take this night for what it is, and that is a night out! It'll only be fun if she lets it be fun. _I guess I deserve to have a little fun..._

* * *

**Please Review! TGIF Part 2 will be posted most likely tomorrow, if not, then Friday:) Suggestions for the date are more than welcome; leave your idea in a review or PM me:) I watched this movie on Netflix the other night called Triple Dog and they played some crazy dare game, it was good...I was thinking maybe Caroline suggests they do something like that. What do you guys think? If you like it, give me some ideas for dares(: If you don't like that idea, let me know what you think Caroline would like to do...**

**-BecomingScarlett**


	13. Chapter 13 TGIF Part 2

**Hey Guys! I forgot...**In the last chapter, the song titles are actually episode titles from TVD. I thought they'd make good song names, and I didn't feel like making ones up;) But no one noticed, or at least said anything about it haha:) Thank you so much for reading this story. Welcome to those who are new readers and followers. Thanks for all the favorites, I'm glad you like the story. I'm sorry it took me such a long time to get this chapter posted, but I made it extra long, so I hope that makes up for it!

Here is Part 2 of date night! Finally at the actual date part;) I was so happy to get so many awesome dare/date suggestions! You guys are awesome, those this chapter is definitely for you guys! I tried to include all your ideas. (I'll post all the names of those who suggested ideas that I used for this chapter at the bottom, so it's a surprise, rather than a dead give-away. I like surprises haha) I hope you guys like this chapter!

**Special Thanks to: **delenaluv, Pippa783, curiouswriter, fashionista1988, Nicole0203, AlwaysDelena, XDelena4EverX, arwen01, DeeReadinQueen, DelenaVD, vivianafrancesca, MelissaSomerhalder, kaybaby1127, MissSecretlySinful, LuveSucks, LoveMeant2BE, just your average freak, VampAmbsxox, TheAbigailIvashkov, & ScarletLetterx for your reviews. Your words make my heart happy:)

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 13. TGIF Part 2**

Damon looks up at Caroline after reading the text Elena sent him a moment before. "I guess we're going to meet them there...Stefan just got home and we don't want a repeat of what happened on Wednesday." He explained to the blonde, who was still working on her make-up in Elena's mirror.

Caroline re-capped her peach-colored lip gloss and took one last look in the mirror before spinning around to face her best friend. Caroline takes note of Elena's outfit and asks, "You're not wearing that, are you? Are you ready?"

"Why?" Damon looks down at his outfit and then back up at Caroline's judgy blue eyes. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Don't you want to look cute?" Caroline is wearing dark skinny jeans, black boots, a blue and pink flower-printed tank top, and dark gray faux leather jacket. Her medium-length blonde hair is slightly wavy and her make-up is edgy and dark. She spent a whole hour and a half getting ready, and she is clearly proud of her appearance. Elena, on the other hand, is wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and sweatshirt. An old sweatshirt, too. "You look like you're on your period."

Damon can't help but laugh. _How do you look like you have your period? _"I didn't realize, jeez. Thanks for telling me." Damon sighs and suggests, "Why don't you pick something out for me?"

Caroline smiles and happily agrees. She opens the drawers and pulls out clothes, already having an outfit in mind. It's late-Fall, so the weather has been getting cooler, especially at night, but it's not too cold to look cute. She lays out the outfit on the bed for Elena to assess, and is happy when her friend agrees to wear it. Caroline picked out a dark and light blue striped dress, with a brown leather belt, thick white leggings, and cute brown biker boots. So she doesn't freeze, Caroline walks into the closet for a coat and comes out with a cute jean jacket. After she's dressed, Caroline compliments, "Much cuter. You know you're going with Damon, right? I mean, he's a dick, but come on, we both know he always looks good."

Damon smirks at the compliment, just not the one Caroline was directing towards Elena. So, she thinks he's a dick, but he's a good-looking dick. That's okay by him. And maybe she'll change her mind about how she feels about him. Elena is starting to change her mind, and that's pretty much a miracle. Caroline could definitely change hers if Elena can.

"You ready to go?" Caroline asks, looking over Elena's new appearance with an approving smile.

"I don't know, am I?" Damon questions, posing for Caroline and twirling in place.

Caroline nods and says, "Lookin' good. And me?" She smiles cheekily and places her hands on her hips.

Damon wants to roll his eyes, but he humors her, "Gorgeous! Let's go."

Caroline links her arm through Elena's, and they start to walk downstairs. Caroline is anxious though, so she has to ask, "Okay, come on, who is it? Just tell me."

"You can wait ten more minutes, Care," Damon says firmly. She's already asked five times.

"Fine," Caroline relents, "But let's just promise that tonight is going to be a stress-free, no judge night, okay?"

Damon has no idea what she means, but he decides it's better to agree with her. "Okay. Deal."

"And we're taking my car," Caroline announces, and then lowers her voice to add, "I brought alcohol, shh..."

Damon laughs. _All right. Tonight is gonna be fun._

* * *

Elena and Klaus arrive at Mystic Grill before their dates. _Haha. _Elena thinks to herself. _I'm going on a date with myself and my best friend, who thinks I'm Damon, and who is here for a date with Klaus, but she doesn't even know it, and he freaking out! _All right, maybe Elena is freaking out too, but she's worried for Klaus. She wonders what Caroline's initial reaction to seeing him is going to be. He's worried too. That's why he's drinking from the bottle of Captain Morgan that Ric gave them while they sit in the car, waiting for Caroline and Damon to get there.

"Give me that," Elena finds herself saying. Klaus passes it over and she takes a long swig. She grimaces and hands it back to Klaus quickly. That was the most awful tasting drink she's ever had, but hopefully it will help her relax. She sees Caroline's pink car pull into the lot and she points it out to Klaus, "They're here now."

"O-kay..." Klaus sighs, capping the bottle and sliding it back in the cooler in the backseat, along-side the bottle of Jaeger. He grabs the red rose for Caroline and opens his car door. He can't help recalling that MTV show where the dates only lasted like thirty seconds, and the person would say...'Next!' And someone else would come out of the bus. Yeah. That's how he's picturing this date going with Caroline. That would suck.

Elena watches herself climb out of Caroline's car, dressed way trendier than Damon could have done on his own. Elena is happy to see Damon really is trying with Caroline. Damon smiles at Elena, and then they both watch Caroline's reaction to seeing her date is Klaus. She looks back at 'Elena' for a second, before turning back and putting on a smile. Elena can't tell if it's a real one or not, but she and Klaus meet the girls half-way.

Klaus doesn't know what to say when he comes face-to-face with the beautiful Caroline, so he hands her the rose and says, "For you."

"Thank you," Caroline says with a bright smile. No guy has ever actually given her flowers; except for her dad, and that was like one time. "Klaus, right?" She knew that was his name, but she wanted to make him talk. He was just gaping at her.

"Yes," Klaus answers. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving," Caroline admits with a laugh.

Klaus starts to compliment Caroline on her appearance, and Damon thinks he can handle things on his own for a moment, so he turns to check out his face and see how the black eye is healing. "Come here," He says to Elena quietly as he grabs hold of her by the chin gently and looks at the bruise. It's a lot better than it was yesterday, but still pretty bad.

"It's fine," Elena insists, nudging Damon's hands off. She catches Caroline staring, and Caroline comments in a half-teasing tone, "So mean."

"Yeah, sorry, Mister Moody," Damon says to Elena with a smirky smile.

"I am not," Elena rolls her eyes. "Let's go eat."

Everybody nods, and they start to head in to the restaurant. All the local teens and young adults like to hang out at Mystic Grill because there is pool and a digital jukebox player, and for the ones over 21 there's the bar. Plus, the food is really good.

Elena and Damon walk inside behind Caroline and Klaus, and can therefore hear Care comment to her date, "I really liked that drawing you did, the one in the Art Hallway? I see it every morning..."

"Really?" Klaus looks at Caroline with a look of complete surprise. He didn't even think she noticed him or knew who he was, but she's seen the picture he drew? And she actually likes it?

"Yeah," Caroline confirms with a small smile, "It's beautiful."

"Maybe I'll draw you one day," Klaus proposes casually.

Caroline's blue eyes light up and she says, "I'd like that."

Elena and Damon exchange a look, both smiling. They were so worried about Caroline's reaction to Klaus. They never expected she'd take to him so quickly. Caroline wasn't disappointed at all by who her blind date wound up being. In fact, she's kind of looking forward to getting to know Klaus outside of school. Elena is proud of Caroline's response. She wishes she were in her own body so she could take Care in the bathroom and gossip with her about Klaus and Damon, but she's not, so she can't. This is a good start, though. Elena knows that as long as Caroline is happy and in a good mood they'll have a good night.

"Table for four?" The dark-haired hostess asks Klaus, who is leading the group. He nods, and she slides out four laminated paper menus, and gestures for them to follow her. "Right this way..." She shows them to their booth, which is close to the pool tables and the jukebox player.

"Ooh! We should play pool after we eat," Caroline suggests to Elena's body, grabbing her friend's hand briefly and smiling.

Damon, who had already been planning on talking Care into playing pool with the boys, nods and says, "Yeah, that sounds fun. How about me and you against the boys?"

"You're on," Elena replies with a wink at Damon.

"Okay," Caroline says, "But we're gonna kick your butts!"

* * *

"What did I tell you?" Caroline says after high-fiving Elena, "I knew we were going to win. I must be on a winning streak tonight."

"Does that mean you want to play again?" Klaus asks her hopefully. He doesn't want the date to be over right after dinner. He's having such a good time with Caroline that he's not ready to give her up yet.

"No way," Caroline says with a playful grin, "What happened to our little wager? You and Damon have to pay for dinner, and then we're going to go do something even more fun..." She rubs her hands together and licks her lips simultaneously, thinking to herself just how much fun it's going to be.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Elena asks, curious as to what Caroline could possibly be up to.

"Well, Damon," Caroline says mysteriously, "That is for me and Elena to know, and you and Klaus to find out. _We_," She gestures to herself and Elena, "are going to go grab some things we need, while you boys pay. Meet us at the Falls..."

_The Falls? _Elena wonders as Damon leaves with Caroline. _What could she possibly want to do there? Drink?_ The Falls is where the back-to-school party always takes place. It was a tradition started by the future Senior class of Mystic Falls High about fifteen years ago, and it's been carried on every since. It's close by, only about a five minute drive away, but Elena knows that even if it were further Klaus would drive them there. He is so completely into Caroline, he'd probably do just about anything she asked him. And that's a good thing, too, considering what Caroline has planned for her date, her best friend, and Damon.

"Come on," Caroline urges Elena to follow her faster, "We have to stop somewhere before we meet them."

"What are we doing?" Damon questions, wanting to be in on whatever it is Caroline is planning. Besides, he's the whole reason they won the game of pool anyways. Him, and Klaus helping Caroline out to have an excuse to touch her, but either way. The 'girls' won, just like they planned, and now Caroline is in charge of the date.

"We're going to play some drinking games," Caroline replies, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world and Damon should have already known. Well, maybe if he were actually Elena, he would have known. "I've got alcohol, and Klaus has alcohol, so there's plenty to drink. But we can't go back to any of our houses, so I thought, why not go to the Falls? We haven't been there since the school kick-off party."

"Yeah, that was a fun night," Damon comments.

Caroline turns to Elena with one eyebrow raised as she asks, "Uh, really? I thought that night sucked for you? That's why I wanted to take you back and make it a good night. You and Damon seem to be getting along..."

Instead of admitting that he and Elena _are_ getting along, he counters, "And you and Klaus seem to be getting along too. Are you glad you took Damon up on his offer?"

"So far..." Caroline says slowly, "Yes, I am." She smiles as she turns her car onto her road and into her driveway.

"What are we doing here?" Damon asks, confused as to why they are now parked in Sherriff Forbes' driveway.

"I said we needed to grab a few things," Caroline answers, "Come on."

While Caroline drags 'Elena' inside to help her gather up supplies for the Falls trip, Klaus and 'Damon' talk Alaric into giving them some things behind the bar to mix drinks with. He comments that the girls looked like they were having fun, and wonders how the date is going. They talk to Ric for a few minutes, but Klaus is anxious to get back to Caroline, so they say goodbye and head towards the Falls to meet their dates.

"They're not here yet," Klaus points out the obvious when they park off the dirt trail close to the Falls.

"They'll be here," Elena assures him.

"What do you think they're doing?" Klaus wonders.

"I don't know," Elena answers honestly. She wishes she knew what Caroline was up to, but she has no clue. "Maybe they were getting stuff to mix drinks with too?"

"Maybe..." Klaus says absent-mindedly, his thoughts on beautiful Caroline and her smile. He can't believe he's the one who's made her smile tonight. He hopes she feels what he is feeling, because the more time he spends with her, the harder he falls. He is not going to be able to go back to the way things were before; pretending that he doesn't mind she ignores his existence. It would kill him. Before he can dwell any further on that depressing thought, headlights appear in Klaus' rearview mirror, and he watches Caroline park her pink car behind his red one.

Caroline asks the boys to help her and Elena set up the small folding table and four camping chairs they grabbed from her garage. She and her parents used to go camping every summer...until he left, that is. Now she hardly sees her dad at all. But at least she can still find use for the camping chairs tonight.

"Nice idea with the chairs, Care," Elena comments, not realizing that was a very un-Damon-like thing to say.

"Thanks..." Caroline says awkwardly, wondering when Damon became so nice. He must really like Elena, she muses to herself. Well, she doesn't really see the appeal towards Damon, but...she guesses if Elena likes him, he can't be that bad. Plus, Klaus is way different than she assumed he was. Maybe Damon is too? Maybe she shouldn't be so quick to judge people. Especially not tonight. She did make Elena promise tonight would be fun, stress-free, and judge-free. So that counts for her too. She compliments the boys back, "Nice idea with the drink mixers and the fruit."

"Should we make a drink?" Klaus suggests.

"Absolutely," Caroline nods with a big, infectious smile on her lips.

* * *

After each has mixed a drink for themselves, Caroline suggests they play Never Have I Ever. This game is simply the ice-breaker. It's effective since it involves drinking whenever someone states something that you _have_ done. That's just Round 1 of Caroline's drinking game. After they're all good and drunk, they'll move on to Round 2...

"Okay, okay," Caroline waves her hand to silence the laughter from the boys and her best friend, "My turn. Never have I ever...uh...been on an airplane?"

"What?" Klaus asks incredulously, "You haven't flown before?"

"Never," Caroline repeats.

Klaus takes a long drink from his glass, since he has flown multiple times, and Elena drinks for Damon since he motions to her that he's been on a plane. They came up with a system to make sure they were answering correctly for the opposite person. They are out with their best friends, after all, the person who knows them best. When they _have_ done something, they do one long blink, and when they _haven't_, it's two short ones. At least the game doesn't require telling the truth about the things they have and haven't done. Elena has said a few that Damon _has_ done, and had to drink for them. She's had the most to drink out of all of them so far, and she's starting to resent Damon a little for that.

When it's her turn, she says an easy one, "Never have I ever been a cheerleader." She smirks at Damon as he takes a drink. Caroline, too.

"No, really?" Damon comments sarcastically. He can tell Elena is drunk, though, and maybe he shouldn't push her too much more. He doesn't want her passing out on them and having to take care of her if she gets sick all over the place in his body. "Never have I ever...been skinny dipping." He doesn't get the look from Elena, so he doesn't drink, but he forgot that he _has_ been skinny dipping, so he blinks once for Elena. She rolls her eyes before downing the remainder of her drink. She slams her plastic cup down on the folding table and frowns at Damon. He wonders why she's all of a sudden mad at him. He suggests, "Maybe we should do something else now...?"

"Yes!" Caroline bursts excitedly. "Let's move on to Round 2. But first, we have to do something for Round 3."

"What?" Elena, the Elena in Damon's body who is so drunk at the moment she can't see straight, asks, "What Round 3? What game are we playing?"

Caroline laughs and tells the obviously drunk raven-haired boy next to her, "That's part of the rules. Only _I _get to know the game. But it's fun. Right? Aren't we having fun?" She gets nods from Elena and Klaus, so she tells Damon, "See? We're having fun. So listen. This is what we have to do." She opens her bag and pulls out the paper, envelope, and pens she brought from her house. "Write down your biggest secret, fold it up, and put it in the envelope. Make sure to put your name. But don't worry, no one is going to see it...unless you break the rules."

"What are the rules?" Damon asks, since Caroline never told him that part on their way here.

Caroline shrugs and lists off, "Rule number one: Everyone has to write down their secret. If you don't, then your punishment is left up to us to decide, and it probably will be worse than sharing whatever deep, dark secret you write on your piece of paper. Rule number two: No one knows about the game except for us. So, if we leave here and we see other people, we can't tell them about the game. Rule number three: Anything goes, so once we start playing, that's it. You're playing until the end. And...technically, we just finished Round 1, so we're all in it until someone is a winner." She sucks in her bottom lip thoughtfully before adding, "And that's it, I think."

Caroline rips a sheet of paper into four pieces and hands one piece to each person at the table. They write down their secrets, fold them up into a square, mark their name, and put it in the envelope Caroline grabbed from her mom's office at home. She seals the envelope and places it at the center of the table.

"How do you win the game?" Klaus wonders.

"At the end, we all vote on who we think deserves to win. And you can't vote for yourself," Caroline explains. "Oh, and for this round, it's like truth or dare only you don't choose whether you want truth or dare, you choose the person who you want to ask or dare you. Get it?" She watches as each of the three teenagers sitting around her nod their heads. "Okay. Let's play Round 2. Here's how we decide who's first. Everyone pour themselves a drink. We all start to drink at the same time. Whoever finishes last is the first to be dared. Or...truthed?" She giggles at her joke and then starts to mix a drink with fruit punch and strawberry flavored vodka.

Damon, Elena, and Klaus follow Caroline's lead and pour themselves a drink. Elena is drunk already, but she thinks being in Damon's body is helping her tolerate the alcohol a little more than usual. She is feeling the effects of the alcohol, but she's not experiencing any light-headed or dizziness, and the forest isn't spinning around her. That's a good sign. She should be able to handle at least one more drink.

"Everyone ready?" Caroline asks once drinks are poured. "Ready. Set. Drink!"

Elena finishes first and slams her cup down on the table loudly, Damon only a few seconds behind her. She smirks across the table at her body and wonders if she could possibly get Damon alone so she could use this Truth or Dare game to her advantage. If they're alone, she can ask him things **he **can actually answer, and has to because the rules say so. As Damon meets his own blue-eyed stare, he is thinking the same thing. If he can get Elena alone, he can ask her to tell him the truth about Matt...

Caroline finishes her drink before Klaus and then smiles happily when she notices she's not the last one. She points at Klaus and says, "You lose. That means you're first. So, who do you want to pick to be in charge or your Truth or Dare?"

Klaus contemplates choosing Caroline, because he'd do anything she told him to, but he decides to choose Damon instead. Hopefully Damon won't ask him anything too outrageous or dare him to do anything embarrassing. He shrugs one shoulder and says, "Damon." He shoots Damon a look that he hopes is saying 'Don't make me look stupid, dude'.

Since Elena clearly can't get away with a Truth, not knowing enough about Klaus, she says, "Alright...well, it's gonna have to be a dare, dude." Klaus nods, accepting his dark-haired friend's decision. "I dare you to..." Elena stops to think. _Come on, come on, what do guys dare each other to do? Do people even play Truth or Dare anymore? Not that I'd tell Care that, but seriously, this game is much harder to play when I'm not in my body! _Suddenly, it comes to her. "Switch outfits with Caroline."

Klaus' blue eyes widen in shock for a moment, until he hears Elena and Caroline giggling. Elena is giggling because, well, it's Damon and he thinks it's hilarious that Klaus looked so panicked for a moment. Caroline is laughing because she has to put on Klaus' clothes.

Just to clarify, Elena adds, "Just pants and shirt. You don't have to trade undies...that'd be gross. But you have to do it here." Elena thinks Klaus should be thanking her. Now he gets to see Caroline in her bra and panties. Maybe he doesn't realize that yet?

"Okay," Caroline agrees, before Klaus can reply. To her, he doesn't really have a choice. Those are the rules. Damon gave Klaus a dare. Klaus has to comply. She stands up and slides out of her jean jacket, hanging it over the back of her chair for Klaus to grab. She looks him in the eyes and waits for him to do the same.

Klaus gulps before taking off his jacket. Now he gets it. He knows why Damon gave him this dare. But he's fucking nervous. Why is he so nervous? He wants nothing more than to see Caroline in less clothing, but he can't believe it's really happening. He snaps out of his daze and decides to make the next move first. He slips his shirt over his head and hands it to Caroline. She smiles and checks out his smooth, bare chest before copying his moves and removing her shirt. Her grin deepens when she sees that Klaus is blushing a little at the sight of her lacy pink and white bra. She's glad she chose to go with a lingerie set tonight, even though she knows she's going home with Elena. It doesn't hurt to plan to look sexy, _just in case _things get heated. Or for moments like this. She reaches for the button on her jeans at the same time as Klaus, and slowly bends to take them off. She can't help but note that Klaus will probably have no problem fitting into her clothes. He is thin, but she is glad to see he is toned, and hotter than she thought he'd be. Maybe football players aren't the only ones with hot bodies...

After staring for another moment, or maybe two, Caroline and Klaus put on the opposites outfit and sit back down. Klaus asks Damon, "So, how long do we have to stay like this?"

"Oh yeah..." Elena hadn't even thought of that. "Until after we've each had a turn, I guess."

Klaus nods, "All right. Who's next?"

Caroline hums thoughtfully, "Damon, because he dared you. But if he picks you, then you can't go again. We'll have to find another way to decide."

Elena wants to suggest something other than drinking to decide, because she is really not trying to make herself sick tonight, nor be in bed all day with a hangover tomorrow. She doesn't say that though, because she realizes three sets of eyes are on her. _Oh. Right. It's my turn. _"Elena."

Damon is a little disappointed, only because he really wants to ask Elena about Matt; it's been on his mind all day since the diary incident. He can't ask her now though, because she's _him_. But he does have another idea, to get her alone for a few minutes, and plan out a way to get more time alone. He wants to tell Elena his idea for Klaus and Caroline, and to do that, he has to do this: "I dare you to get naked." He pauses for dramatic effect before adding, "And jump in the water."

Elena's eyes bulge for a second as she protests, "But it's going to be cold!"

Damon wants to groan and shake her, but thankfully, Klaus does the next best thing by teasing, "Oh wah, are you really that scared of a little cold water? Or do you not want the girls to see _little _Damon?"

_OK, that's a bit much, Klaus. We both know I'm bigger than you. _Damon wants to say. But that would sound weird coming out of Elena's mouth.

"Want to come in with me and let them meet Klaus junior, too?" Elena shoots back with a glare. She almost said, _Elena's already seen it, and it's not little. _She catches herself. That would be a bad, bad, **bad **thing to day. Ugh, why did Damon have to give her this dare?

"I'm good, thanks," Klaus replies.

Elena sighs loudly before saying, "Fine. But you suck. You really suck, Elena." She says her name meaningfully, so Damon knows she means _he_ sucks. She gets up and walks away from the table towards the water. She really doesn't want to get cold and wet right now, but Damon would do it. _Right? That prick better have done this if this were him because this is going to suck! Have I fucking mentioned yet that this __**sucks?**_ She decides it's best to just get it over with.

Damon asks Caroline after Elena walks away, "Give me your keys. I'm going to turn on you car for a minute so I can put the heat on for him." See. There's that moment alone he was planning. Now he can talk to Elena for a minute and tell her his next plan. It's complicated.

Caroline coos, "Aww, aren't you just the cutest? Here. I think I have a blanket in the backseat. Don't let him put his bare ass on my leather seat." Caroline holds out the keys to Elena, who takes them with a smile and walks away to the car.

Elena strips down quickly and glares at the water, which even looks cold, before taking a deep breath and stepping off the bank into the shallow water. She holds in her breath so she doesn't let out a most likely girlish yelp at the shock of the cold water on her skin. She pushes forward, hating every moment of it, and then gets to a deeper spot, where she dives under. Once her body is fully submerged, she realizes she doesn't feel cold. It's weird. It almost feels _warm_, actually. _That can't be right..._Elena comes up for air and her senses kick back in. "Fuck! It's so cold!" She wades through the water until it's shallow enough to hop on to land and across the grass to her clothes.

She hears Caroline and Klaus' laughter from their seats and wishes she'd given Klaus a worse dare just for laughing. She doesn't see her own body though. _Where's Damon?_ She sees the lights of Caroline's car flash and then Damon unrolls the window and yells, "Come here, it's warm, and there's a blanket!"

Elena grabs the clothes and runs to the car. _Thank God! He's not a complete ass after all! _Elena ignores Caroline and Klaus' incessant laughter as she dashes past them to the little pink car, and hops in the passenger seat, immediately wrapping the blanket over her shoulders and body. The heat is blasting, and it feels amazing.

"Sorry about that," Damon says, before Elena can yell at him, as he knows she probably wants to. "I wanted to talk to you, and that wasn't going to happen unless, you know, _that _happened." He gestures to his wet, shivering passenger.

Elena nods in understanding, and instead of yelling, she comments, "I still hate you right now, but when I get warm, I'll be fine. What do you need to talk to me for?"

"I have a dare for Klaus," Damon says seriously.

Elena wants to scream. "That's it? Are you kidding me? Couldn't you have dared me to make out with you in the car and asked me that way instead?"

"That wouldn't have worked." Damon replies, having considered that option already. "Caroline would've said we had to do it right there. And how desperate would you look, daring me to make out with you? But anyways, isn't the point of this date to try and Caroline to like Klaus?" Elena nods. "Well, I know how. You said Caroline likes romantic shit, right? So if Klaus asks you for another dare, then you tell him it's a secret, so Caroline won't hear. Then tell him exactly where to take her to give her the most romantic kiss of her teenage girl life." Damon seriously thinks some of Elena must still be in this brain. Where did this crazy chick idea come from? It must be the chick brain. It's the only answer.

"Fine," Elena grumbles, "That's a good idea." She wiggles her toes in front of the floor heater and mentions, "And I'm starting to feel my toes again, so I'm a little happier. I'm staying in here for another few minutes though."

"I'll stay with you until you're dry," Damon offers.

Elena shrugs indifferently, even though she wants him to stay. She is glad he's being nice to her now, but she hopes it isn't only because he wants his body back. Will things be the same after? Or will they go back to the way they were before? Because she doesn't want them to. "What do you think-" She cuts herself off and shakes her head, "Never mind." She can't ask him that. She can't ask him what things will be like after they are themselves again. She's kind of scared to hear the answer.

"What do I think about what?" Damon asks, turning his eyes to Elena curiously.

"Nothing," She insists. "I don't know. I was thinking out loud. You don't have to wait. Go back out and see what they're doing. I'm going to get dressed. I'll be out in a minute. I'll turn the car off and bring the keys."

Damon wants to ask again, but he decides to listen to her instead. "Okay." He'll have another moment to talk to her. He'll make sure of that.

After Elena is dressed and emerges from the car, Klaus queries, "How was your swim, my brother?"

"It sucked." Elena states with a sigh as she sits down in her seat. "But now it's Elena's turn, right?" She sends Damon a daring look, just to warn him that if he chooses her, he's probably not going to like her dare for him.

"Yeah, and I'm so not picking you," Damon giggles in a girly way before turning to Caroline and grabbing her arm. "Caroline. I know you'll be nice to me."

Caroline lifts her lips up in a half-smile, which she directs at Klaus, and then speaks, "Truth. What's the deal with you and Damon? And I want the whole story, not just another vague answer." She and Klaus were planning on asking Elena; it was only a matter of whom she picked and when.

_I should have known that was coming…_Damon thinks to himself. He almost forgot about the truth part of Truth or Dare. He's always been more of a fan of daring than truthing. _Is truthing a word?_ No, he doesn't think it is, but he'll pretend for now. But clearly Caroline and Klaus have been looking for answers on this subject, and it's up to him to give them some insight. "Okay…uh…" Damon shoots a 'help me' look in Elena's direction, but she shrugs. She is interested in hearing his answer as well.

"Don't you dare say 'it's complicated' again," Caroline forewarns, as if knowing that is where her best friend was headed with the 'uh's' and the 'okay…'s'.

Damon decides to tell the truth. Well, as much of it as he can tell, since the curse/spell thing is still keeping him and Elena tongue-tied. "Well, it all started a week and a half ago. It was kind of an accident, really. Damon and I were paired up in History, and we obviously didn't want anything to do with each other, but…" Damon shrugs, "Something happened. We changed. We realized maybe we hated each other for all the wrong reasons. Or at least, that's how I feel. I didn't like Damon, but I didn't really know him either. And once I got to know him…" He stares at Elena and she finally meets his eyes. "I figured out I was kinda wrong about he-_him _all along." He almost slipped and said 'her', but he caught himself. "I never planned for any of this to happen, but I guess sometimes that's how life goes. I didn't want to hurt Stefan." _False. I did want to hurt Stefan. But not in this way. _"It just happened. Once I realized," He's going out on a whim here, "how I felt, about Damon, I had to break up with Stefan. It wouldn't have been right. Does that answer your question?"

"So…" Caroline's lips curl up playfully, "You do like Damon then." She watches Elena nod her heart-shaped face. "I knew it. It only took six shots and a serious game of Truth or Dare to get it out of you."

Elena is surprised by Damon's words, but she doesn't know if she should be. It's not like he said anything she didn't already know. It did all go down a week and a half ago. It was a huge, freak accident. They have changed their minds about each other recently. And she did make him break up with Stefan because of what happened between them. But does he really like her? Or is he only saying what Caroline and Klaus want to hear?

"My turn!" Caroline announces, "I pick Elena."

* * *

"Before we start Round 3," Caroline says, after they've played Round 2 for an hour or so. She and Klaus have been back in their own clothes, and she is excited to finish up the game and declare a winner. She's been having a lot of fun so far. "A few more rules; this round is called the Triple Dog Dare round. We each only get one turn. The dare has to be a big one. Anything goes. The only place we _can't _do our dares for this round is…here. We've been here all night, so we have to go somewhere else for the dares. So think about what you might want to dare, and help me clean up." She bosses them lightly. She knows she can come off as somewhat of a control freak, but it's only because she's such a perfectionist. She can't help it. The alcohol has loosened her up enough to relax and have fun, though.

Once everything is packed into Caroline's car, she suggests, "Let's let the bottle decide who's first. First spin will determine who the dare is for, and second spin decides who's giving the dare." She sets the bottle on a flat surface of the ground near the two cars, and they form a circle. Caroline spins the bottle. It lands on herself. The second spin lands on Damon's body.

Elena is excited. Finally. She can give Caroline a dare. And she has the perfect one in mind. One that will make Klaus think Caroline is even hotter than he already does. She tells Caroline, "I triple dog dare you to go back to the Grill, and perform a song in the parking lot. On top of someone's car and it can't be yours."

Instead of protesting or complaining, Caroline nods her head and agrees to do it. "Let's go."

Ten minutes later, Caroline is on top of a stranger's black Hummer, singing Taylor Swift's 'I Knew Your Were Trouble' for Elena, Damon, and Klaus. Well, and a few other drunkies who are leaving the bar at this time. She is putting on a show, dancing on the car and pretending to sing into her empty vodka bottle like it's a microphone. "And the saddest fear comes creeping in. That you never loved me, or her, or anyone, or anything! Ye-ah! I knew you were trouble when you walked in, so shame on me now. Flew me to places I've never been, 'til you put me down. Oh, I knew you were trouble when you walked in…"

By the end of the song, there is a crowd of ten or so, all cheering and applauding loudly for Caroline. She grins from ear to ear and takes a bow, nearly tumbling from the roof of the Hummer. Klaus steps forward and grabs her hands, helping her jump down to her feet. He compliments, "I didn't know you could sing. You're amazing."

Caroline giggles, "Thanks."

Ric sticks his head out of the door of the Grill and calls out, "You guys might want to get out of here. I think the guy who owns the Hummer just called the cops…"

"Shit, let's go!" Klaus takes Caroline's hand and pulls her towards her car, Damon and Elena following close behind.

The four teens regroup at the Mystic Falls High School parking lot, and spin the bottle to determine who will go next. Klaus; and his dare will be coming from Damon's mind but Elena's mouth. Damon pulls Klaus aside and whispers his dare to him. "I triple dog dare you to take Caroline out to the middle of the football field, and tell her how you feel about her. Oh, and you better seal it with a kiss." Damon observes that it probably is better that he's not telling Klaus this from his own body. Klaus might actually punch him for something like this, but coming from Elena, he just may be thankful.

Klaus wordlessly walks away from Elena's body and over to Caroline. _I can do this. _He tells himself. _I can. _He takes Caroline's hand for the second time tonight, and asks her, "Would you come for a walk with me?"

"Sure," Caroline agrees with a smile. She can feel butterflies form in her belly; nervously anticipating what is to come when she follows Klaus. She has an idea in mind, but she doesn't want to assume. The butterflies are the good kind, though. She is nervous, but excited at the same time.

After Klaus and Caroline walk away, Damon suggests, "Let's have our own dare while they're gone."

Elena raises an eyebrow at Damon skeptically. "Why?"

Damon shrugs innocently, "Just to pass the time."

"Fine," Elena concedes, "But be nice."

"I am being nice," Damon points out. "Are you still wasted?"

Elena lifts one shoulder and shrugs it, "I dunno. Kinda. Yeah."

Damon chuckles. She's definitely still drunk. He is tipsy, but she had way more to drink than him. Maybe she won't remember in the morning when he asks her about this. He wants her to remember though. "I dare you to tell me about Matt."

"What?" Elena asks with a frown. She was definitely not expecting that to be his dare. "That's not even a dare."

"I'm daring you to tell the truth," Damon clarifies, "Because I want to know the story."

"You could've just asked." Elena responds.

"Would you have answered?" Damon asks, "Are you going to answer?"

"I don't know," Elena sighs, feeling a bit pressured. "I guess. I guess I'll just tell you. But then you have to answer a question of mine."

"Deal," Damon consents.

Elena leans her back against Klaus' car and starts, "Matt claims he had a crush on me since the first grade. That's what he told me when he finally asked me out the summer after sophomore year. We had gone to Homecoming together at the beginning of the year, but that was it. He didn't really talk to me again until that summer." She shakes her head bitterly, the memory coming back to her fast and strong, causing her to feel slightly sick to her stomach. "Caroline was staying with her dad for the summer, and Bonnie was a junior camp counselor. I was stuck home doing nothing, really. So it was nice to have someone to talk to, and to hang out with. It was nice that this cute, sweet guy was interested in me. But it was all a big joke. I can't believe I fell for it. I fell for _him_. He made me feel special. He said I was beautiful and that if I were his he'd be the happiest guy in Mystic Falls. He really knew exactly what to say. He wanted to get married someday, and have kids, and ugh, I believed every word of that crap. When he finally admitted he was moving at the end of the summer, I was in way too deep. I didn't want to let him go. I thought sleeping with him would make him mine; make him still be mine after he left. I was stupid. The last two weeks he was here, we just fucked all the time. And I hated it. I hated it because I knew he'd be gone, and all I would have left was the memory and this fucking empty feeling inside. And it was worse when he said that we could still be together, and that he'd visit, and he'd write, and he'd make it work. When the truth was, he didn't even plan on trying. He didn't write me once. He never came back. He just left." Elena swallows the thick, aching feeling in her throat, determined not to cry. "It doesn't matter anymore. I learned my lesson. I'm glad I found out just how cruel guys can be. I'm never going to let that happen again. I'll never be that stupid."

"It's not your fault, Elena," Damon points out gently, "You weren't stupid."

"What the fuck would you call it then, Damon?" Elena demands. "I fell for the oldest game in the book. The love you and leave you move. How many movies have been made based around that stupid trick? Countless. And yet I still fell for it. I've loved you since first grade. Who the fuck did he think he was? Peeta from the Hunger Games? He did not love me. Not one little bit. He probably doesn't even think about what he did to me."

Damon doesn't know what to say. She's right. Matt probably doesn't feel bad about what he did, or regret it. He probably doesn't think what he did affected Elena so much. He wouldn't have done it if he was going to regret it. Damon is almost as mad as he was the day they were under that love spell and first found out about Matt scarring Elena's heart. He wanted to kill him, and he still wishes he could go hunt Matt down and beat him black and blue. How could he do something so awful to someone like Elena? She deserves so much better.

"I told you," Elena says, "So now you have to tell me something." She was going to ask him more about Katherine; to tell her the story of how they met and how they started dating and why Damon loved her. But she doesn't ask him that. Instead, she asks, "Did you mean what you said back at the Falls?" Quieter, she adds, "Do you really like me?"

Damon also thought Elena would have asked him about Katherine. He blinks a few times at Elena before replying, "Uh…" _Shit. She knows how complicated this is. Why is she asking this? _"I don't know, Elena. I mean, I do like you, but I don't know. I don't know if I'm feeling this way because it's how I really feel or because we're fucking cursed. I have no idea how to feel about this. And after hearing what Matt did to you, there's no way I'm going to hurt you like he did. I'm not going to tell you that I like you, Elena, because if I change my mind, then I'll be another asshole who hurt you. I just want to get back to being myself. Then I'll be able to figure out everything else."

Elena nods her head jerkily. She shouldn't have asked. What was she expecting him to say? And why is she so upset when there's nothing wrong with that answer? So, he's confused? So is she! She can't be mad at him for being confused.

"Here come Klaus and Caroline," Elena states flatly.

The blonde-haired pair are practically glowing and their hands are still linked together. Damon and Elena note that their kiss must have gone well. Mission accomplished for getting Caroline and Klaus together. Too bad their situation couldn't be fixed that easily. Too bad their feelings can't be sorted out in a simple, short conversation and sealed with a kiss.

Elena is next to be dared, and Caroline dares her, being in Damon's body, to do a body shot off of Elena. God, she must have stepped in some bad luck back at the Falls. Why is she getting all the awful dares? Is it just because she's in Damon's body? Would these dares have gone down the same way if she were in her own body? If she were in her own body, she'd have gotten off way easier tonight. The last thing she wants to do is sensually lick alcohol from her own body, especially when Damon just told her he doesn't know how to feel about her. She'd rather keep her distance, but no, that's now how the game works. Elena has never done a body shot before, but she follows Caroline's instructions: licks the salt from her wrist, sucks Jaeger from her own belly button, and grabs the cherry (only fruit left from what the boys took from the Grill) from between Damon's lips. She quickly steps back and away from her body, swallowing the alcohol and ignoring the racing of her heart at the close proximity to Damon. _This really has to stop. I really have to stop feeling like this about him. It's not right._

"I guess I'm last," Damon announces. He spins the bottle to see who will be giving him his dare, and wonders what it will be when it lands on Klaus.

"I triple dog dare you," Klaus says right away, "To give my friend Damon here a kiss."

_Of course. _Damon nods, rolling his eyes over to Elena cautiously. He can sense she's trying to put distance between them, but outside forces keep pushing them together. Maybe they shouldn't fight it so much? Damon smiles reassuringly as he walks over to stand in front of her. They haven't kissed since…the love spell. And that was not of their own choice. That was simply magic. This won't be anything like the heated kisses they shared during that awful witchy spell fail. It's just a kiss. One little kiss.

Damon, being shorter in Elena's body, steps up on his tippy toes and leans on Elena's shoulders for support as he presses her lips against his. His eyes fall shut and he feels Elena wrap her arms around his waist, pulling him closer as they deepen the kiss. His tongue sneaks in her mouth for a moment, and Elena melts a little inside. _It is like before. _Hastily, Elena pulls away and steps back. She stares at Damon with a mixture of surprise and confusion. _That wasn't supposed to happen. That wasn't supposed to be like that. It should have been normal. It should have been like kissing anybody, like kissing a cousin! What happened?! _

"Whoa," Caroline comments breathily, "That was _so_ not the first time you guys have done that. That was hot!"

Damon laughs awkwardly. Was it that obvious they've kissed before? He is just as shocked as Elena at the intensity of their kiss. It was almost as fiery and passionate as the make out session that nearly led to them having sex in each other's bodies last week. _Almost_. But they controlled themselves this time. It wasn't an uncontrollable urge for more, but it was stronger than he expected. A kiss like that isn't one that can be easily forgotten. A kiss like that doesn't help an already confused mind find clarity.

"We should head back," Elena suggests, "It's late."

"Fine," Caroline relents, wishing they could stay out all night, "But we're doing this again soon, okay? Like…next week." Klaus, Elena and Damon laugh. Caroline gasps, "Oh, wait! We never picked a winner!"

"Oh yeah," Damon nods, "I forgot. So what do we do again? We vote?"

"Yeah, everyone votes for who they think deserves to win," Caroline confirms. "I vote for…Klaus." She smiles at him shyly. It took a lot of guts to tell her how he feels, and God is she glad he did. He likes her! And she…likes him too. But she is definitely taking this slow this time. No rushing into shit like she did with Tyler. That was a mistake. She won't let Klaus be one too.

Klaus votes for Damon, but Elena and Damon both vote for Klaus. He's the winner. "So what do I win?"

"Oh, crap!" Caroline groans, "We never placed any bets." She mulls it over before offering, "How about you win another date with me? Only this time it can just be me and you."

"That sounds perfect." Klaus smiles happily.

Elena watches her best friend score a date and can't help feeling slightly jealous. Caroline's life is so un-complicated compared to hers right now. Why is it that right when she thought her and Damon were figuring out how to get along in each other's bodies, things have to become more complicated? She can't handle having feelings for Damon when he's in her friggin' body. It's hard enough accepting she's got feelings for a guy who's tormented her for nearly all four years of high school, but he's not even _himself! _He's **her! **Now would be such a perfect time for Ayana to put them back in their proper bodies. _Do you hear me, Ayana? I learned my lesson! We won't fight anymore. Please…fix this. _

* * *

**Please Review!**

Those who gave me ideas for this chapter: DeeReadinQueen, delenaluv, Xdelena4EverX, arwen01, vivianafrancesca, & LoveMeant2BE, THANK YOU:) You guys are awesome, and you made it so much more fun to write this chapter. I hope you're happy with how it turned out! Sorry again for taking so long to finish and post it.

The results to my poll are up, and the new story has been chosen, so check out the results on my page if you're interested. I'll be starting with that story once I'm finished with this one. I've also been thinking a lot about a Caroline/Klaus story. I have a sort of AU idea that I think would be really fun to write, semi-inspired by the Taylor Swift song 'Holy Ground'. What do you think? Should I do a Klaroline story after this one too? Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading!:)


	14. Chapter 14 The Morning After

**Check out...**My banner for this story that DeeReadinQueen made for me:) Go to my profile and click the link for story banners. I wanted to make it my new picture for the story, but it doesn't fit right, so please have a look:) Thanks again for making that for me, Dee!

Here's Chapter 14! To those who may not read the note at the bottom, we're getting towards the end of the story. I'm expecting 3-5 more chapters. I just wanted to let everyone know so the ending doesn't creep up on you;)

**Special Thanks to: **DelenaVD, incorrigiblyinsistent, VampAmbsxox, DeeReadinQueen, vivianafrancesca, TheAbigailIvashkov, kaybaby1127, fashionista1988, Tara Rebecca, AlwaysDelena, Skating-on-glass, LuveSucks, just your average freak, missstvd, delenaluv, & CharlSmith for reviewing. It always makes me smile to see what you guys have to say about the story:) So glad to hear your feedback!

Enjoy;)

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 14. The Morning After**

That night, after the double date was over and Elena was fast asleep in Damon's bed while Damon was fast asleep in Elena's, with Caroline at his side…Ayana watched over them from the spirit realm. She could see their souls struggling to reunite with their own bodies, fighting against her magic trickery, and nearly breaking through her spell. It wasn't time yet, though. Ayana wasn't ready to let them go; they hadn't learned their lesson, not really. If she allowed them to break the spell now, they'd never see the truth: that they are soul-mates and they belong together…

Damon wakes up very early, as he normally does after a night of drinking, and with Caroline snoring softly beside him he can't fall back asleep. That, and the fact that he's surprised he managed to sleep in a bed beside Caroline Forbes in the first place. Klaus would kill him if he knew what was really going on right now. At least he doesn't have his, _you know_, junk in this body or things would probably be really awkward right now. Speaking of his proper junk, he should probably check on his body. Elena consumed a lot of alcohol last night, and that was partly his fault, so he feels responsible for the massive hang-over she's likely to awaken with.

As quietly as he can, Damon slips out of bed and tiptoes to Elena's bathroom. He takes one look at Elena's face in the mirror and groans. _Oh my God, why do girls ever wear make-up if __**this**__ is what it looks like in the morning?!_ He ties back Elena's long, dark locks with a hair band and then scrubs the make-up from her face. Once it's clean, he pats it dry with a towel and observes that Elena looks even better _without_ make-up on. With that over with, Damon begins to search for what he originally came in the bathroom for: aspirin. Only, he doesn't see any. Oh well, he's got some in his and Stefan's bathroom. He'll just grab it when he gets over there. He exits the bathroom just as quiet as he entered, and makes his way over to the window. After sliding it open, Damon looks over his shoulder to make sure Caroline didn't wake up. The coast is clear. He hops to the tree and over to his window, climbing inside his familiar bedroom.

Damon can't help but smile when he sees Elena has burrowed herself into the blankets, her face nearly underneath one of the four pillows on his bed. He doesn't want to wake her, because being woken from a drunken coma sometimes induces vomiting, _ha_, and he doesn't want that to happen. Getting puked on at 7AM is like the least fun thing he can think of. He walks quietly to his and Stefan's shared bathroom and pushes open the door. He opens the medicine cabinet and successfully locates the bottle of high-dose pain reliever he saves for his most desperate times of need, like this morning.

Now that he's got the aspirin, he realizes he forgot about water, which is the second most important thing to get in your system after consuming too much alcohol. Toast would also be a very good thing. Damon stands in the bathroom for a few minutes, weighing his options. Should he risk being seen and go downstairs for a glass of water and some toast, or…not?

When the bathroom door opens and a half-asleep, half-awake Stefan stumbles through the doorway in only boxers, Damon wishes he'd made his decision sooner. Stefan's green eyes widen and he mumbles through his confusion, "Elena? What are you…what are you doing here?"

_Wow, this is awkward…I guess he's really not going to believe Elena or I anymore if we insist we haven't slept together. Because right now, it looks like Elena just spent the night with me. And that might lead to another fight between Stefan and, well unfortunately, Elena!_ Damon frowns as he looks over Stefan's shoulder into his bedroom. There, on his bed, is a naked girl. Seriously! A naked girl! Damon can only see her bare back and her blonde hair cascading down her shoulders covering her face, but he easily comes to the conclusion that Stefan got laid. How did that happen? Who is she? Damon wants to know, but alas, he is Elena, and Elena would not be too happy to see her very recent ex-boyfriend in bed with someone else.

Damon scowls and informs his step-brother in an agitated tone, "Nothing you haven't already done."

Damon leaves the bathroom via his bedroom, and shuts the door firmly. Elena still didn't wake up, and for that he is thankful. He decides that after being caught by Stefan, what did it matter if he ran into his dad or Isobel downstairs? So, he walks downstairs and grabs a water bottle from the fridge. He also pops some toast in the toaster oven and waits for it to brown a little. He's not even going to put butter on it, because even that could make a severely hung-over person nauseas. _Ah, the down-side of a heavy night of drinking. Too bad the 'during' is so much more fun than the 'after effects'._

He hears quiet slipper-clad feet shuffling through the hallway before Isobel appears in the doorway to the kitchen, a bathrobe thrown over her pajamas. She does a double-take when she sees Elena Gilbert standing in the kitchen. "Elena?" She greets in confusion, "Good morning. I didn't know you were here." Her statement has many underlying questions, such as: why are you here? Who are you here with? And did you sleep over?

"I'm so sorry," Damon tells Isobel politely, as he's sure Elena would if she were ever caught in this situation, "I don't mean to intrude. I just came over a few minutes ago…uh, Damon drank a little bit too much last night, so I thought I'd bring him some water and…toast?" He shrugs Elena's small, bony shoulders and waits for Isobel to call her a hussy and tell her to get the hell out of their home.

She doesn't though. Instead, she starts up the coffee machine and comments, "That's nice of you, hon. I'd be wary when waking him, though. He can be kind of a bear in the morning. Well, and a lot of the time…" Isobel laughs lightly, as if she and Elena are sharing an inside joke, "But, you know, he's been a lot better since hanging around you. I know how hard it must be, having a change of heart?" Oh God, so Stefan told Isobel about Elena breaking up with him for Damon? And Isobel is okay with that? What kind of twisted alternate universe has he awoken in this morning? "And Damon is certainly not an easy young man to get along with, but I know he has a good heart. You must see that too? And I've tried to keep things civil between the boys, but there's just too much history there. Maybe all Damon really needs is someone…like you." Isobel smiles at Elena then, and Damon has never liked his step-mother more.

"Thanks, Mrs. S.," Damon states with a goody-goody Elena smile. He wishes he could think of more to say, but he's still learning how to have girl talk, and he thinks taking baby steps is the best way to go about it. This is the best conversation he's ever had with Isobel, though, and he's almost disappointed it took place in Elena's body, so he won't even get credit for it, but Isobel did say some nice things about him. Maybe his step-mother doesn't hate him as much as he thought she did. Holding the water bottle in one hand and the toast wrapped in a paper towel in the other, Damon announces, "Well, I should bring this up to Damon. I'm hoping to prevent him from spending the morning with his face in the toilet."

"Maybe he'd learn his lesson and stop drinking so much if he actually spent the morning sick," Isobel muses, "But I remember how shitty it feels to have a hang-over, so I shouldn't say that. Go on, then. I won't keep you from him any longer." As Damon walks away, Isobel calls, "Oh, and if you'd like to stay for breakfast, you're more than welcome!"

"Thanks," Damon replies as he heads up the stairs. Who'd have guessed Isobel could be such a cool mom? Not only did she buy the 'I just got here' story with no interrogation, but she also _invited_ Elena to breakfast. That's like Step-Mom of the Year-worthy. He's definitely going to have to start being a little nicer to her if he ever gets back in his own body.

Back upstairs, Damon forgets to be as quiet as he was when he went down, and he accidentally wakes up Elena when the door opens and slams into the dresser rather loudly. Damon winces and whispers, "Sorry!"

Elena groans, first out of frustration at being woken up so disruptively, but it quickly turns into a moan of pain when she realizes her head is pounding and feels ready to explode. "Oh my God, what is going on?" The question is both for Damon being as loud as a bull in a China shop and for her aching head. She grabs the nearest pillow and shoves it over her face. She whines, "Somebody kill me. Please."

Damon chuckles as he places the water bottle on his night stand, next to the three pain relievers and the warm toast. He perches on the edge of the bed, careful not to jostle Elena's body and cause her more pain. In response to her request, he points out, "Sorry, I can't do that. What would happen to me if I killed you? Then I'd really be stuck in your body for all of eternity."

Elena pulls the pillow off her head and glares at Damon as she states, "You're not funny."

"Aw, come on," Damon pouts, "I'm a _little_ funny."

"Uh-uh," Elena insists with a shake of her head. "Ouch. That hurts. Everything hurts."

"Then maybe you should be nicer to me," Damon suggests, "I brought you some pain killers and water. And toast."

"Aspirin, yes," Elena murmurs, holding out her hand, "Toast, no way in hell."

After she swallows the pain medicine, Damon urges, "You really should eat some of the toast. Small bites. And sip the water slowly. It'll help. Trust me. I think I've had a few more hangovers than you have." Elena stares at the toast Damon is trying to give her like it's a poisonous snake, but she begrudgingly takes it from him and eats the smallest of bites. Damon smiles encouragingly, "That's my girl."

"I'm not your girl," Elena mumbles grumpily, "I'm not even _**a**_ girl."

Damon simply laughs, "Yeah, yeah, you're right." He kicks off his shoes and climbs into the bed beside her, grabbing the remote and flicking on his TV. He'd rather hang out over here in his room than listen to Blondie snore for however long. With how late they were out last night, she's not likely to wake up for at least a few more hours. Thinking of Elena's headache, he turns the volume down low and flips to some Saturday morning cartoons.

Damon thought Elena would complain or comment on his childish male behavior, but she surprises him. "I love this show!" She snuggles deeper into the blankets, unconsciously moving closer to Damon as she tries to get comfortable.

"No way," Damon notes disbelievingly, "Elena Gilbert watches cartoons?"

Elena sticks her tongue out at him before warning, "Careful, I might not eat your toast, Mister."

"Don't eat it," Damon shrugs nonchalantly, "You're only hurting yourself."

Elena realizes he's right, so she shuts up and munches on the toast quietly, alternating with small swigs of water, until both the toast and the water are all gone. By the time the show is over, she's feeling a lot better. She did feel a wave of nausea pass through, but thankfully, it went away. She feels so much better, she almost wants to go back to sleep, but since Damon was so thoughtful and took care of her, she decides to stay awake.

"Why are you up so early?" Elena wonders when she sees it's not even eight o'clock yet.

"Blondie woke me with her snores," Damon shrugs, "So I came to check on you."

Elena giggles at his comment about Caroline snoring. "Well, thank you. I never would have thought you were the nurturing type."

"I have no idea what you mean," Damon says, feigning innocence. Of course, he did know what she meant. Normally, Damon wouldn't care if someone felt like shit after a night of drinking. That's what happens. Know your limit. But…there was something different about it being Elena. Damon wanted to make her feel better, and he was glad that he did.

Elena pokes his side repeatedly as she teases, "Aw, Damon, your soft side is showing." She tickles her ribs, knowing that's where she's most ticklish, and suspecting Damon is probably ticklish there as well. "You really aren't such a bad guy." She continues to tickle, even despite Damon's protests for her to stop. The giggles she's eliciting causes her to continue, until he just can't take it anymore.

"I – can't – breathe!" Damon gasps between laughter, "Stop. Please. Stop!" Elena finally relents, laying back down on her side beside Damon and smiling into the pillow. Damon turns to his side as well, since the TV is angled to the right and it's more comfortable that way. He doesn't realize Elena is practically spooning with him until... "What-what is that?"

"What's what?" Elena repeats, wrinkling up her nose in confusion when Damon looks over his shoulder at her.

"What's poking me in my ass?" Damon re-words, his eyebrow raised as he waits for Elena to explain the situation.

Elena's eyes widen as she realizes what he's suggesting. She slides away from him and holds her arms up above the blankets to prove her innocence. "I didn't," She stutters, shaking her head, "It's not my fault. I'm sorry."_ What the fuck? Seriously? A boner? Now? Could this get any weirder?! _Elena accuses, "It's _your_ thing, not mine."

"Hey, don't blame me." Damon sits up so he can look Elena in the face as he smirks, "You're behind the wheel."

Elena rolls her eyes and comments, "Well, I guess you find me attractive."

"No," Damon insists, "Actually, that means you find _me_ attractive."

"Pfft," Elena scoffs, "Let's not read too much into it, OK? This thing finds anything attractive."

Damon's mouth drops open in shock and he points out, "That is such a guy thing to say."

"Can we just stop talking about it?" Elena asks, a blush rising to her cheeks. Does he have to keep rubbing it in that it's obvious she likes him when he doesn't even like her back? "Let's just watch TV."

"Fine, okay," Damon agrees, not able to resist one last dig, "As long as you keep my dick out of your ass."

"Not gonna be a problem," Elena murmurs. "But it's not like you gave me an instruction manual. I don't even know how to make it go away."

"Well, I can think of _one_ way," Damon says smartly, thinking of how he usually rids himself of morning wood. "Well, two, actually." The second being sex, of course, which he hasn't had any of in almost two weeks.

Elena wonders if any of that mind reading spell was left behind, because for some reason, she knows he's thinking about whacking off or doing the deed, and neither of those are going to be happening. "Ha. Ha. No, and no."

"Well, there is one other thing I could try," Damon starts cautiously, not sure he should say what he knows would probably make his dick go from hard to flaccid in two seconds flat. It could also hurt Elena too, and he doesn't want to do that.

"What?" Elena is curious. She wants to at least hear his suggestion. Hopefully he wouldn't say something stupid, like, 'When I want to get rid of a boner, all I do is think about your face,' or something equally as douche-y.

Damon decides he should tell her. Either way, she should know. He blurts out quickly, "I saw Stefan in bed with a naked girl this morning." Not exactly true, but he did see the naked girl. Stefan was just no longer in the bed with her, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what they did before they went to sleep.

Elena sits up slowly. "What?" _No way. He's lying. _"Seriously?"

Damon nods. "Yeah. Are you okay?" _Well, I was right. It made the boner disappear… _

Elena shrugs indifferently, "I don't know. I mean, I guess. Why wouldn't I be? I broke up with him, remember?" Yeah, she's okay. Because she didn't sleep with Stefan. If she had, it would've hurt a lot worse. It also would have hurt a lot worse if she hadn't already developed feelings for Damon. She just wished he returned those feelings. After a short pause, she asks, "Who is she?"

"I don't know."

A moment later, Isobel knocks on the door and calls out, "Damon, Elena, I made breakfast if you want to come down."

Elena raises an eyebrow at Damon questioningly, and he shrugs and explains, "She invited me to stay for breakfast. Apparently, you're good for me."

Elena smiles, pleased at the compliment. She was going to say something along the lines of whether or not Stefan's, uh, guest would also be joining them for breakfast, but Isobel's voice cuts into her thoughts. "Stefan," She knocks as she speaks, "Breakfast is ready." Sounds like Isobel doesn't know about Stefan's guest just yet.

Elena and Damon share a look before Damon suggests, "Come on, let's go." Elena nods and follows right behind Damon. They're thinking the same thing: They want to know who's behind Stefan's door.

Their doors open simultaneously. Elena steps out first, since she is technically Damon, and it's his house. Stefan also steps out first, smirking at his step-brother in a way Elena would describe as boasting and kind of creepy. She wonders what he's so smug about when Elena is the one coming out of Damon's bedroom...

Then, she sees her. The beautiful blonde standing in the doorway of Stefan's bedroom. Her hair is the color of soft pale gold, long and lush, cascading all the way down to her mid-back. Her eyes are a startling shade of deep, dark blue, her skin is alabaster pale. Elena is in awe at just how pretty she is. She looks like an angel..._almost_. There's something evil glinting in those blue eyes, and she also seems to share the same smug behavior that Stefan is presenting.

Isobel looks from Damon to Stefan and then says cautiously, "Boys...we aren't going to have any problems, are we?"

Elena can suddenly sense the tension in the air, and she glances back at Damon to confirm her awful suspicion that this girl isn't just a strange blonde Stefan found for a one-night stand. This is...

"Katherine?"

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**Oh, snap! **Cliff-hanger! Some people asked me a _while _back if Katherine would appear in this story, and I honestly didn't think she would, but **here she is! **Sorry, but it is long overdue;) I hope you guys liked the chapter! Reviews would be awesome:)

Oh, and I used the books' description of Katherine/Elena for Katherine in this, since it wouldn't make sense for her to look exactly like Elena.

And I just wanted to forewarn everyone that this story should be wrapped up in about 3-5 chapters, depending on how long they end up being. I can't see it being more than 20 chapters, so I know it will be sad for it to come to an end, but I'll be starting a new Delena story and a Klaroline story, so I hope you'll all check those out too(:

Thanks so much for reading!


	15. Chapter 15 Here Comes Trouble

**Thanks for all the reviews, the new follows, and the favorites! **

**To those who reviewed: **Guest, DeeReadinQueen, DelenaVD, TheAbigailIvashkov, arwen01, Tara Rebecca, Guest (2), incorrigiblyinsistent, Qawsed, Delenalover, vivianafrancesca, kaybaby1127, just your average freak, She-Wolf-91, VampAmbsxox, .Delena, Guest (3), MadDam-de-Mort, xxtaylorelizabethxx, emmera01, LuveSucks, & LilyKnighte - Thank you so much! I really, really appreciate the feedback! Your reviews make me smile, and I get so inspired reading your comments. Please keep it up:)

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 15. Here Comes Trouble**

"Katherine?" Elena asks cautiously, shock and confusion written all over her, well _Damon's _face. She looks back again at Damon and sees that he looks pretty surprised as well. Actually…he looks a little sick. Frowning, Elena asks the pretty blonde, "What are you doing here?"

Katherine smiles sympathetically at her ex's obvious uncertainty, and then answers vaguely, "Just visiting…I hope that's not a problem." The way she raises her eyebrows challengingly at the end implies that she knows her 'visit' is going to cause problems, and she doesn't really care.

_What a bitch! _Elena curses the evil, blue-eyed blonde inside her head, but bites her tongue. She wants to smack the smug expression clean off the girl's face, but she can't do that because, being in a dude's body, she'd most likely be judged way harsher for beating up a girl. It'll have to wait until she gets her own body back, and oh God did she wish that moment were right now. She'd bitch-slap the bitch and then slam Damon into the wall and make-out with him in front of Stefan and Katherine. _I am seriously losing my mind over here…_

"Of course it isn't a problem," Isobel cuts in, trying to smooth over the situation before it gets messy and out of control, "No, it's just a surprise to see you after so long, Katherine. It's been…what? Two years now?" Isobel isn't a stupid woman. She knows the conflict Katherine caused between her son and her step-son when she cheated on Damon with Stefan, and for that reason specifically, Isobel isn't Katherine's number one fan. She would like to tell the girl to leave her home and never come back, because she's not welcome, but how would that look to Stefan when Damon has Elena over? Elena didn't do what Katherine did, but her actions still seem to have affected Stefan, otherwise he would never have called Katherine in the first place. Besides, it wouldn't be very fair to make Katherine leave and let Elena stay, and she is a stickler for trying to keep things fair between the boys. That's why she is playing peace-keeper right now, and hoping for the best. She reminds the teenagers, "Breakfast is on the table. Better hurry if you don't want it to get cold…"

"Damon," Elena's voice comes quietly from behind the taller, black-haired teen, and he turns to look at her, "I forgot about Caroline…maybe I should go…" He shrugs awkwardly.

Elena frowns down at Damon and resists the urge to yell, 'Fuck Caroline! She'll find her own damn breakfast! Hello, friends since second grade, remember?!' But instead, she takes his hand and insists, "No, don't be silly, you took care of me all morning. You are staying for breakfast." She chuckles a little at the end, shaking her head at Damon for thinking for even a second that he was going to get out of this disaster of a breakfast she just got roped into attending. If she had to eat with Stefan and Katherine, Damon was going to be there too.

Before Damon can respond, _plead, _really, for Elena to not make him go, Katherine steps forward and gives Elena's body the head-to-toe once-over. After a few seconds of judgmental staring, Katherine concludes, "You must be Elena. Stefan's told me _so _much about you." She flips her hair over her shoulder haughtily as she glances back at Stefan, and they both chortle over their inside joke.

_Oh. Hell. No. _Damon thinks to himself, frowning at Katherine and then Stefan. What the fuck is wrong with Stefan? Does he seriously have so little self-esteem that he'd stoop this low? He really called up Katherine, who he swore he had zero feelings for, and brought her home to sleep with? What about Katherine Pierce would ever make someone feel better? She's the most conceited, manipulative, lying bitch either of them have ever met, and Damon thought that was the one thing they agreed on. Sure, Stefan played a part in Damon's heart being shredded through a cheese-grater, but Damon had always believed it was stemmed from Katherine's sick, twisted mind. If Stefan could so easily go back to her, then he must be just as fucked in the head as she is.

And to bring Elena into it? To make Elena feel like she's not good enough in comparison to the evil that is Katherine Pierce? No. Damon couldn't allow that to happen. Squaring his shoulders, he looks Katherine in the eyes and smirks, "He did? That's _cute_. Damon's told me all about you, too." Damon rolls Elena's big brown eyes like he couldn't care less, and squeezes the hand she is still holding on to. Directing his next words at Elena, he says, "I guess I'll stay. I can't leave you alone with these two, can I?"

Elena smiles gratefully and tugs Damon towards the stairs, leaving Stefan and Katherine to follow behind. Now she wishes that Damon's words were actually true, and that he did tell her all about Katherine. In truth, he only told her a very vague story about catching her with Stefan at Homecoming. He never mentioned how gorgeous she was, or what happened to her after the break-up. Elena doesn't even know if Katherine lives near Mystic Falls, or if she's from out of state and Stefan was desperate enough to fly her in, _who knows?! _Elena knows absolutely nothing, and that's intimidating. What did Stefan actually tell Katherine about her? It can't have been anything good, not with that look Katherine followed-up with to Stefan. He must have really put her down, and even though Elena wants to be un-phased, it hurts. She had really liked Stefan, and she trusted him, but he never even cared about her. What a joke that he'd told Damon he _loved _her the day they broke up! Yeah right! He never loved her. _You don't do something like this to someone you loved._

At the bottom of the stairs, Elena whispers nearly inaudibly to Damon, "You better not ditch me, I swear to God."

"I'm not," Damon smiles reassuringly. "I'm right here." He takes a seat at the dining room table, and Elena sits down next to him. Katherine sits across from Damon, and Stefan across from Elena. Could it get any more awkward than that?

Before joining the teenagers for the breakfast she prepared, Isobel ducks into her and her husband's bedroom to inform him of the current situation. "Giuseppe!" She hisses through the door of the bathroom, where he'd just gotten out of the shower, "Come on, breakfast is ready."

"I'll be out in a few minutes," Giuseppe replies.

"No," Isobel insists, "I need to you _now!_"

Hearing the urgency in his wife's voice, Giuseppe pops his head out of the bathroom door and asks, "What's wrong?"

"It's the boys," Isobel says exasperatedly, "I don't know what to do. Damon has Elena here, and Stefan has _Katherine_."

At the mention of the Trouble-maker, as Giuseppe secretly calls Katherine, he nods, "Say no more. I'll be right out, honey."

True to his word, Giuseppe dried off and dressed in under sixty seconds, and emerges from the bathroom to join his family at the table for breakfast. "Good morning," He announces as he strides into the room, taking his usual seat at the head of the table, across from Isobel. He looks from his son to his step-son, and then from the blonde-haired girl to the brunette. He frowns, resisting the urge to scratch his head in confusion, and demands, "What the hell is going on here?"

Damon nearly spits out his orange juice at his father's accusatory question. He's not usually so…direct, but apparently he'd really like to know how his normally peaceful Saturday morning has turned into what looks like the makings of an episode of Jerry Springer. Damon swallows the juice and clears his throat a few times, thankful to not be choking, and to also not have that question directed at him. _The perks of being in Elena's body; there aren't many, but the few there are happen to be great._

Elena, who isn't used to being under this much duress in the morning, and on top of that still has the remainder of a hang-over she's trying to banish, doesn't know how to respond. She hadn't really talked to Mr. Salvatore much at _all_, and she's pretty sure the way she'd speak to him would be nothing like the way Damon speaks to him, so she feels royally screwed. She knows nothing about Katherine, knows nothing about Isobel, except that she seems like a really cool, sweet lady, and definitely nothing about Giuseppe Salvatore. _Why does Damon get all the easy things?! Not fair!_

Since he didn't receive an answer from either of his boys, he says in a dangerous tone, "I don't care if you have guests over; you boys need to cut out the bullshit. Do you hear me? This has got to stop. First, you're getting into fist fights, and now you're bringing home girls to piss each other off. What's it going to be next?"

Elena opens her mouth to apologize, "I'm sor-" but is immediately cut off by Stefan blurting out in a loud angry voice, "He stole my girlfriend! What was I supposed to do?"

There was a moment of silence, a calm before the storm so to speak, and then all the teenagers at the table started talking all at once.

"I did not!"

"He didn't _steal _me from you…"

"What? You told me-"

"How the fuck can you deny it? You know it's true!"

"Stefan, it wasn't even like that, I told you-"

"Hello?! I thought you said-"

"Even if I did, so what? You started it!"

"_**I **_started it?!"

"Yeah, ya did!"

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck _you!_"

"**Enough!**" Giuseppe raises his voice and silences all four blabbing mouths at once. "That is enough. I don't want to hear you boys swearing or calling each other names. I don't want you fighting at all! Until you can work it out, neither of you are allowed to have girls over, so, I'm sorry Elena and Katherine…I'm going to have to ask you both to leave."

Damon stands first, putting on an Elena-worthy performance as he apologizes, "Mr. Salvatore, I am so sorry for causing any problems. It wasn't my intention at all. I only came over this morning to see if Damon was all right; he drank too much last night and I was worried. Please forgive my intrusion…" Turning to Elena, Damon gives the girl a much-needed hug, whispering in her ear, "Don't worry, I'll see you later." He resists the urge to send a glare Stefan and Katherine's direction, and heads for the front door.

Outside, Damon walks slowly to the house next door, but stops when he hears Katherine's voice. "Hey…" He turns and she catches quickly. "What's your game, Elena Gilbert? What do you want from Damon and Stefan?"

"What are you talking about?" Damon queries innocently, wishing he'd taken his chance and ran to the Gilbert's instead of walking so casually.

"Don't play stupid with me," Katherine sneers, "I invented this game."

"Yeah?" Damon asks, stepping closer to Katherine and glaring daggers at her, "Well, guess what? Not everyone is _like _you! I'm not playing any game at all."

"So you really like Damon then?" Katherine asks, the sharp angles of her face softening suddenly, her mask coming undone momentarily. "Like, _a lot?_ You're not just using him to get back at Stefan? Or to get back with Stefan?"

Damon shakes his head slowly, "No. I'm not. I wouldn't do that to him." Taking a chance, he reveals some of his true feelings, which have been brought back to the surface because of Katherine reappearing in his life. "What you did? To Damon? You really messed him up. He thinks every girl is going to do to him what you did, and it took a long time to gain his trust. I wouldn't risk losing it again."

"Stefan loves you though," Katherine points out, "How could you do _that _to him? You hurt him, too, you know."

"Stefan doesn't love me," Damon denies, "He just thinks he does."

"Well, the way he was looking at you…" Katherine says sadly, "when he thought I wasn't looking. He never looked at me like that. Damon looks at you the same way. It isn't fair. How can you have both of their love? What's so special about _you_?" Surprisingly, Katherine seems close to tears, but then her face hardens again, and her eyes steel over. "I don't see anything special. And you better just stay out of my way. Because I _will _scratch your eyes out if you think you can take what's mine. Damon was mine first. You never forget your first love." She nods confidently, a smirk appearing on her lips, "He will be mine again."

Then she turns and walks away, climbing into a silver car that Damon hadn't even noticed before, leaving him dumb-founded on the sidewalk in between the Salvatore and Gilbert homes. _What just happened? _Did…did Katherine just…no. No way. Did she just say that she was going to steal back Damon from Elena? What? _She wants me? _Damon couldn't wrap his head around the idea. _**Now **__she wants me?! _What could have changed her mind in the past few years? She hasn't even seen him, but yet she thinks she can walk back into his life and just take him? What makes her think he's hers to take in the first place?

But she was right…you never forget your first love. Damon hadn't forgotten her, or how much he loved her, or how much she hurt him. He remembered it all like it was yesterday…

* * *

Much to Elena's displeasure, Giuseppe and Isobel forced Stefan and 'Damon' into the living room, sat them down on the couch, and told them not to get up until their problem was resolved. _They're kidding, right? _Elena thought hopefully, but nope, they were not kidding. It looks like she's really stuck talking through issues that weren't technically hers, with Stefan, who looks ready to punch her in the face again. She's only had three days to heal since the last time he hit her, so she's really hoping things don't escalate in that way again today. Maybe she actually _could _remedy the situation if she talks to Stefan…

"So…" Elena starts slowly, trying to gauge Stefan's anger based off the reaction to her, _Damon's_, voice. She was waiting for Stefan to cut her off with a '_shut up_' or an '_I don't fucking think so, brother_', but his silence surprised her. He was actually going to listen. "I guess we should talk."

"Yup," Stefan agreed with an attitude, looking past Damon at the framed picture on the wall.

"Obviously you're pissed at me," Elena states, "I get that. I don't blame you for being mad, but Stef, I really didn't mean for anything to happen with me and Elena." She sees Stefan open his mouth, so she quickly gets out the second part of what she wanted to say, "Just know, I never did _anything _with her. Nothing, dude, I swear. Not even last night."

Stefan stares at Damon, trying to assess whether or not he's lying, and he frowns when he concludes Damon is telling the truth. "But…" He sighs. "It doesn't matter. You still stole her from me. You completely ruined my chances with her. I loved her, Damon. Elena is different. She's not like all the other girls. And you just had to go and take her. She fucking hated you two weeks ago! Why doesn't she now? What did you do?"

He's right. He's completely right. Elena did hate Damon two weeks ago, and it is completely unexplainable why she and Damon have suddenly grown close. How can she excuse their newfound friendship? How can she assure Stefan that nothing romantic is going on when she _knows _that isn't true? Even if Damon doesn't return her feelings for him, she does like him. She can't deny that. And Stefan is right too that his chances with Elena have been ruined, but that isn't Damon's fault. No. It's Stefan's fault. He can only blame himself for her change of heart. Stefan's true colors were shown after she had Damon break up with him for her. And if his chances weren't already ruined before this morning, sleeping with Katherine to get back at Damon was the last straw. Elena can't be with someone like that. Stefan isn't right for her, and he can't possibly think that he is.

"I don't know," Elena shrugs. "I really don't. I guess we both realized how stupid and immature we were being constantly fighting and calling each other names. We're almost adults now, and it'd be pretty stupid to continue acting like children. Elena never wanted to hurt you, Stef. Her decision to break up with you wasn't because of me. She didn't break up with you for me, so you don't have to hate me for it. And no offense, but I didn't ruin your chances with her. You've done a good enough job taking care of that yourself." Elena shrugs, pointing out the worst offense, "You slept with Katherine to piss _me _off, and you got caught by _Elena_. That's not my fault, dude. That's yours."

"I would never have done it if it weren't for you!" Stefan shouts, his face turning red with anger. "Fuck! I can't fucking do this! This is bullshit, Damon. Bullshit! I don't care what you say; I don't believe a word you say. You are a fucking liar. You did this on purpose. You ruined my life on purpose. I hate you."

Rolling her eyes, Elena rises from the couch and walks away from Stefan and his child-like temper tantrum. "Yeah? Good for you." She shakes her head and leaves the room, ignoring everyone as she goes upstairs to Damon's room. She should never have gotten out of bed this morning. Now her headache has returned. She face-plants into the bed before getting comfy and closing her eyes for a nap. All the drama of the morning drained the little energy she had right out of her.

* * *

When Damon had finally returned to Elena's, Caroline had been awake and wondering where her friend disappeared to. Damon told her briefly about going to check on himself this morning and tending to the hang-over Elena rightfully deserved after consuming so much alcohol last night. Caroline hung around for a little bit longer, eating Elena's food and gushing about last night and her newfound attraction to Klaus. Damon was happy for Klaus, but he'd had enough of Blondie, and was definitely not disappointed when she decided to head home for a shower. She said she'd call or text later, and then peaced out.

Damon also had a shower, a long hot shower, and thought long and hard about the morning's surprise. _Katherine_. It was so surreal seeing her walk out of Stefan's room. He could have sworn he was dreaming, because it just couldn't be real, but it was. _Damn. Stefan really slept with Katherine to get back at me. And I haven't even slept with Elena. Fuck, I goddamn am Elena. I got the short end of the stick this time around. _

But why does he even care what Katherine and Stefan did? Why does it bother him so much, after more than two years, that Stefan slept with Katherine? Was it just because it was so easy for him to do? Should that even be something to envy; that Katherine jumps into bed with anybody who wants her? Elena would never do that. Elena wouldn't sleep with someone without having true feelings for them. But Katherine admitted she didn't really want Stefan. She wants Damon. She came back to make _Damon _jealous, and to make him want _her_. Katherine finally chose him over Stefan, and after waiting this long he doesn't know how to feel. He kind of hates himself right now, because even though he knows he should be repulsed by Katherine and all that she's done to him and to Stefan…he's tempted to forget about it all and just give her one more chance.

_Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! That's such a stupid idea! Fuck, damn, shit, why? Why does this have to be happening right now? Just when I thought I knew what I wanted, and now __**she **__has to come back and fuck everything up?! _

A knock on the window alerts Damon that Elena is here, and he walks over to the window and pulls it open so she can climb inside. She sits in the window seat and glides the window shut behind her. "Hey…" She says with a half-smile, "So this morning was…_interesting_."

"Yeah," Damon agrees with a short laugh, "It was. What happened after I left?"

"Oh, your dad yelled a little about not wanting you and Stefan to fight so much and that he didn't want to hear us swearing, and," She shrugs, "Then they made us go sit in the living room together until we 'talked out our differences'." She does air-quotes around the last part and rolls her eyes. "I tried, but it didn't really work. Stefan can't seem to do anything but blame you for all this."

"Fuck Stefan," Damon grunts, throwing himself on the bed and landing on his back. Elena chuckles at his words. "Seriously. He can blame me all he wants, but deep down he knows who did what. He knows this isn't all because of me."

"I know," Elena comments. She remembers he'd said Caroline was still here when he left this morning, so she asks, "Did Care go home?"

"Yeah, after eating all the Eggo's," Damon complains.

"Mom goes grocery shopping on Saturdays, so she'll probably be re-stocking the Eggo's soon," Elena laughs. "Don't worry."

Sitting up, Damon shares, "I have to tell you something." It's been on his mind since after breakfast, and Elena has a right to know since she's technically in his body. She's not going to like hearing it, but…it has to be said. "After I left, Katherine followed me."

"She did?" Elena asks with a frown, suddenly concerned for what may have happened to Damon while she was stuck inside the Salvatore home playing therapy with Stefan. "What did she say?"

"She wanted to know what all the fuss was over you, why Stefan and I both want you, or whatever," He explains quickly, "And then she said that you better watch out because she's planning on…stealing _me _back." Elena's frown deepens, but she doesn't say anything. "She said 'you never forget your first love', and that I was hers first so she'd get me back."

"What-" Elena swallows, her throat suddenly dry, "What did you say?"

"Nothing, really," Damon shrugs, "But…I've been thinking about what she said since she left."

Elena nods, seeming to understand he is internally conflicted. "But you wouldn't actually, I mean, when you're _you _again, you're not gonna like go back to her, are you? I mean, you're not actually that stupid, are you?" Elena didn't mean to call him stupid, but it just slipped out! How could he even consider taking back Katherine? "What do you think is going to be different? Why would you even risk putting yourself in that position again? She _just _fucked your brother last night!"

"Jesus, Elena," Damon licks his lips, "I said I was just thinking about shit, that's all. And what do you know about it, anyways? It's not like you even know the whole story. You don't know anything." He didn't realize how harshly he was speaking to her until he saw the hurt expression cross her face.

"You're right, I don't know," Elena concedes, "But that's because you never told me. And that doesn't mean that I don't know _anything_. I told you what Matt did to me. What if he came back and told me he was sorry for never calling or writing? What if I took him back just because of one stupid, meaningless, way-too-late apology? Wouldn't you think I was pretty dumb? Or would you just not even care? You wouldn't. Because obviously you don't care…" _about me_, Elena thought, not able to voice the last two words out loud. He never pretended to care, so she shouldn't be so hurt. But she is.

"I said, I don't know!" Damon yells, frustrated with himself and Elena, and everyone else within a fifteen mile radius. This day could suck his non-existent dick because he was done with this day. All he wants to do now is curl up in bed and go sleep, and not open his eyes again until he's in his own body. Then, maybe, he'd be able to face the world and pick up the pieces of the life he used to call his own.

Elena could see Damon shut himself down from this whole conversation. He'd had enough, and she didn't want to argue. "Well…" She tried to keep her voice steady as she spoke, "Good luck, then. I hope you figure it all out. And, if you do pick Katherine, then I hope she's changed. I hope she doesn't break your heart again." _But if you pick her, you'll be breaking mine._

* * *

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	16. Chapter 16 It Is What It Is

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* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 16. It Is What It Is**

**.**

After being told by Damon that Katherine royally screwed his brain up - _Well, he pretty much said that, not word-for-word... _- Elena couldn't go back to his bedroom and stare at everything that was his and think about _him_ when he was driving her crazy! So...Elena decides to take a walk instead. Maybe it'll help clear her mind. Maybe she'll forget for a while that she and Damon's bodies have been swapped, and they may never be themselves anymore...

Nah, that's not going to happen. She's definitely not going to forget about that; it's always on her mind. _What if we don't switch back? What if we are stuck like this forever? If we were going to switch back, wouldn't we have already? We've been getting along...we've been working together, but still we're stuck. _And now that Katherine is back in the picture, they're fighting again. Just when Elena thought they were on the same team...now she's back in a corner alone, and Damon is in the opposing corner. How did that happen? She really thought they were starting to understand each other, and even more than that, she thought he was starting to feel something for her the way she felt for him.

Elena was obviously wrong about that.

"I called him stupid," Elena mutters under her breath, "_I'm _fucking stupid."

But...Elena did think that going back to Katherine was a stupid idea. She might think she cares for Damon, but she doesn't. She wouldn't have slept with Stefan if she actually had true feelings for Damon. _When you love someone, you don't do that! _Elena thought to herself confidently. She would never do anything she thought might hurt Damon. Because she really does care about him. She wishes he just returned her feelings.

For some reason, that thought causes a sob to make it's way up Elena's throat. _Oh God_, she thinks_, I'm going to break Damon's no crying in public rule again! _Elena ducks her head down low so that if she walks past anyone, they won't see the tears shining in her blue eyes. She needs a friend, but she can't call up Klaus crying; that'd be sure to freak him out. Dudes don't call up their friends crying about shit. That'd probably result in said friend calling Damon a pussy...

_Bonnie!_ Elena remembers that she does have one friend she can talk to, who knows that she's really her and not Damon. She quickly gets her cell phone out of her pocket and dials Bonnie's number, which she has memorized by heart.

Bonnie picks up after three or so rings, "Hello?"

"Hey Bonnie," Elena greets, trying to keep her voice steady to conceal the fact that she was having an emotional break-down, "It's Elena."

Of course Bonnie knew who it was. How could she forget her best friend was currently trapped inside Damon Salvatore's body? But she also knew that Elena was upset, because, hello, she's her best friend. It's not easy to hide feelings from your best friend, not even when she's in possession of a boy's body.

"What's going on?" Bonnie asks, the concern in her voice coming through loud and clear on Elena's end, "What wrong?"

"Nothing, it's nothing," Elena insists, unsure now why she called Bonnie in the first place. Bonnie can't solve all her problems for her, and she already tried to help Damon and Elena out by convincing her Grams to perform some spells on them. It wasn't Bonnie's fault the results were disastrous. It wasn't technically Sheila's fault either; she did explain that Ayana clearly placed this curse on Damon and Elena for a reason and nobody's magic except for Ayana's was going to break it. They were told to be patient, but Elena's patience was running out.

"Seriously?" Bonnie points out, "You wouldn't have called if there was nothing wrong. Come on, you know you can tell me anything. I haven't talked to you in almost a _week!_ What's up?"

"It's just..." Elena sighs, "_Damon._"

_Of course, _Bonnie thinks to herself. "Uh-oh. What did he do now? Please tell me he's not getting into any more shenanigans while inside your body..."

"No, it's nothing like that," Elena admits somberly, almost wishing it were that simple. Anything would be better than _this_. Affairs of the heart are always the hardest to solve. "It's just...going to sound really crazy. But...I think I'm falling in love with him. I know it's stupid and it doesn't make any sense, believe me, I know, but I can't help it."

Bonnie recalls what Grams said about Ayana's reasoning for swapping Elena and Damon's minds: either they did something to cause her to want revenge on them, which Bonnie highly doubted was the case, **or** she did it because their souls were destined to be together and they were too blind to figure it out themselves. Hearing Elena's turmoil and conflict over her feelings for Damon only confirms Bonnie's suspicions that maybe the two of them are meant to be together after all. She never in a million years would have paired them up, but...if they really are meant to be then it is what it is.

"Well, maybe there's nothing wrong with that, Elena," Bonnie suggests, "Maybe you both have to accept your feelings for each other, and..."

"But that's just it," Elena cuts in bitterly, "Bonnie, he doesn't feel the same way about me. He still has feelings for _Katherine_, the bitch who broke his heart and cheated on him with Stefan! She wants him back, Bon, and I think she might actually get him." Elena sniffles and presses her fingers in her eyes to keep the treacherous tears from escaping, "I don't know what else I can do to make him see..."

"Oh, Lena," Bonnie coos, wishing she were there to comfort her friend, and that she could somehow help her through this terribly confusing and awkward situation. Damon was a fucking unbelievable idiot, but maybe there is something Bonnie can do... "You know what? You leave Damon to me. Okay?"

"What?" Elena blinks back tears in her confusion, "What are you going to do?"

_Make him see exactly what he's too blind to realize,_ Bonnie says to herself with a mischievous grin. "Just trust me. If he feels the same way about you, I'll get it out of him."

* * *

Not even fifteen minutes after Elena told Damon off, he'd climbed out the window onto the tree between their houses and let himself into his bedroom next door. He didn't want to fight with her, and he needed someone to talk to. Why couldn't she be that person? He was hoping she'd be moping around, but she wasn't there. _Where could she be? _Before he could leave the same way he entered, Stefan swung open the door and informed 'Elena' that she wasn't allowed over. Damon said he was just leaving, but then Stefan tried to coerce his ex-girlfriend into talking with him about what he did wrong and what he could do to be better because he was so fucking desperate to have Elena back. It was pathetic! Damon brushed him off and left, regretting ever going over there in the first place. He should have just stayed home.

Back in Elena's bedroom, Damon hears Elena's cell ringing, and he quickly picks it up, hoping to hear Elena on the other end. Instead, Blondie's extra-chipper voice is talking loudly in his ear, "He-ey! Guess what? Tonight's Girls' Night! And don't even think about saying no; Bonnie and I already have everything planned..."

_A night with Blondie and Witchy? I'd rather eat a huge pot of steamed Brussels sprouts..._ He'd already blown off Caroline before though, and if Bonnie was in on it, then Damon probably should do it. Plus, with Elena already mad at him, it'd only make it worse to have Bonnie and Caroline hating on him as well. Sighing, Damon agrees, "All right. When and where?"

At exactly 8PM, as requested, Damon pulls up in front of the Forbes' residence. Caroline and Bonnie are waving to him from the doorway, huge grins on their faces, Bonnie's a little more...sinister...than Caroline's. Damon has a strange suspicion that Bonnie is up to something. After all, she's the only one out of the two who knows who he really is.

"Finally!" Caroline comments loudly once her brunette friend has walked through the doorway and thrown her sleepover bag on the couch. "We haven't had a girls' night in forever! What should we do first? Get some snacks and watch a movie? Or should we do facials and mani/pedis? We could do both at the same time..." Caroline bounces up and down with excitement as she lists off the possible activities on their agenda, each sounding tortuous in their own way to Damon.

"Or..." Bonnie speaks up, pulling a bottle of alcohol out from behind her back, "We could have some wine and catch up. I feel like I haven't spoken with either of you in a whole week."

"Aw, perfect!" Caroline squeals, running for three wine glasses from the cabinet in the kitchen. Sheriff Forbes was on duty tonight, until midnight, so they'd have the house to themselves for a while. Caroline loves her mom, but she enjoys her freedom too. Coming back with glasses, she hands one to each of her friends while stating, "One for you, one for you, and one for me."

Damon takes a sip of his wine and resists the urge to make a _BLECH! face_. Wine tastes horrible. _Why do women drink this shit? _"Thank you," Damon says politely, wishing the night were over already. It was going to suck playing nice with Elena's two besties all night. How was he ever going to keep up with their girl talk?

"So, _Elena_," Bonnie says pointedly, clearly making sure Damon is aware she is addressing _him_, "Care told me all about your double-date last night with Damon and Klaus. How did that go?"

Damon raises an eyebrow before shrugging, "It was...fun. I don't know. I mean, I'm sure Care told you all the details."

"I did," Caroline shares proudly, "Every last intoxicated detail, including that steamy kiss you and Damon shared."

Damon inwardly groans. Great. Now they were going to pressure him to talk about _Elena's _feelings for _Damon_, and the last thing he wants to talk about is who feels what for whom and why and how much and all that confusing bullshit. Girls are too much with all the constant talk about their _feelings_.

"It was just a kiss," Damon reminds the two, "And it was a _dare_, so there was really no choice in the matter."

"But how did you feel about it?" Bonnie presses the subject, tipping Damon off to her not-so-subtle plan of figuring out Damon's feelings for Elena.

Damon frowns at her, wanting to tell her to mind her own fucking business... Instead, he finds himself saying, "I don't know, it was nice, I guess." _Okay...what?_ That wasn't what he was going to say. That came out wrong. But it wasn't untrue. The kiss was nice.

"She totally likes him," Caroline states, as if it were that obvious. "You should ask him to the semi-formal!"

_Huh?_ "What semi-formal?" Damon wonders, not that he's actually considering taking Elena. And even if he were, it would only be because it makes the most sense for them to go together, being in each others bodies and all. Taking anyone else would be a little creepy and weird in more ways than one.

Caroline stares at her friend as though she's crazy, "Uh, the one on Friday! Remember?"

There was a dance this Friday? Where has he been? "I guess I forgot all about it."

"So, is that a yes?" Bonnie prompts, looking for an answer.

"We haven't talked about it..." Damon replies slowly, "And besides, shouldn't _he _ask _me?_"

"It's not the 1950's," Bonnie says with a roll of her dark eyes, "You could probably get away with asking." In other words, Bonnie thinks Damon should definitely ask Elena to go, and making her ask him would be a real douche move.

Annoyed with both of these girls pushiness, Damon accuses, "Why are you both jumping down my throats about this Damon thing? I thought both of you hated him anyways? Why do you care?!"

Bonnie sends him a glare, but Caroline looks out-right offended. "Um, hello?! We're your best friends! We want you to be happy! And if Damon makes you happy, then of course we're going to tell you to go for it. I haven't seen you so happy since..." Caroline whispers the asshole's name, "_Matt_."

Bonnie nods in confirmation, "And we remember how crushed you were after he broke your heart. Elena, we don't want you to ever feel that way again. We're just looking out for you. We think you should give Damon a chance. He seems to really have changed." Bonnie looks into Elena's brown eyes searchingly, looking for some sign from Damon that he understands her words and that he'll think about what he's doing to Elena. She's too good of a person, too sweet and caring, for him to take advantage of her and leave her feeling broken and unwanted like Matt did. Bonnie won't hold back this time; she will kick Damon's ass if he hurts her best friend.

"Well, I'm taking things slow," Damon answers, getting Bonnie's hidden words and subtle threats, "Damon and I both have reasons to take it slow. I'm pretty sure he understands why we need to..."

"Are you sure about that?" Bonnie asks, hinting that Damon might not be as correct about that as he thinks.

"Okay..." Caroline looks back and forth from Elena to Bonnie, "Am I missing something here? I feel like I don't have the whole story. Or maybe the wine has gone to my head already?"

Bonnie turns to fill Caroline in, "Well, Elena told me that earlier when she was at Damon's, she ran into his ex-girlfriend, and...she's a little worried he might let her back into his life." She's taking a risk bringing up Katherine in front of Damon, especially because she's just given away Elena. Now he knows that she talked to Bonnie about everything.

"What?!" Caroline screeches, feeling a little bummed that she wasn't included in this revelation. "What do you mean? What happened? Who is she?"

Damon is angry, at first, to find out that Elena called Bonnie after their fight and told her everything. He can't be mad, though. Elena obviously needed to talk to someone, just like he used _her_ as his person to talk out his problems with, and he now realizes how stupid that was to do. Why would Elena want to hear his confusion over Katherine? She was right. It would be stupid to let Katherine into his heart again, and he doesn't trust that Katherine won't break it again, but sometimes the illogical beats the logical thinking. Damon knows Katherine won't be different, but he feels like if he slept with her again, and he did it without strings attached, he'd feel better about the way things ended before. It would be on his terms this time. But what would that mean for Elena? She had her heart crushed by Matt, and she'd never sleep with him again if he came back to Mystic Falls. But does that simply make her a goody-goody, or does that make Damon wrong? He doesn't know. And he doesn't know how to figure out what he's truly feeling, not until he's back in his own body.

"Her name is Katherine," Damon fills in Caroline and Bonnie, "And she was his first love." It was strange telling the story of Katherine through a third party, and verbalizing their relationship makes Damon feel like a big fool. He'd be an idiot to choose Katherine over Elena. The fact that he even has a chance with someone like Elena is unbelievable. She's amazing, super smart, ambitious, kind, and drop-dead gorgeous. She's everything Katherine could never be, and more. He's just a stupid, worthless boy who doesn't deserve her...

* * *

Elena never thought she'd find herself de-stressing by playing guitar, but now that she knows how to play a little bit, she discovers it actually is fun and sort of relaxing. She is laying on her back on Damon's bed, staring up at the ceiling with the guitar in hand and strumming her fingers over the strings idly. She didn't bother Bonnie with endless questions about her plan to get Damon to fess up his feelings, but she's trying not to stress out about it. She's also trying not to get her hopes up that Bonnie will be able to get a better response out of him than she already had.

_He doesn't know how he feels,_ Elena thinks, _If he did, he'd say so. What reason does he have to lie? It's not like admitting feelings for me would be the end of the world! Unless...he thinks it would be? Am I that bad? Do I disgust him that much? In that case, he can have Katherine. I don't want him anyway..._

Okay, so, maybe she is stressing out just a _little_ bit.

At just about 10PM, a knock on the window pulls Elena out of her thoughts. At first, she thinks it's Damon, but when she takes a better look, she sees _blonde _hair, not brown. _No fucking way! What is this, the goddamn slut-entrance?! No wonder Damon is so comfortable coming in and out of the window! He's got girls using the window as a front door! How did I never notice before now?! _Elena throws open the window and is very tempted to scream at Katherine to go away and never, ever come back!

But she doesn't, because looking at her reduces her to silence. How can she compare to this blonde bombshell? She's the most gorgeous girl Elena has ever seen, and the way she carries herself, Katherine clearly knows it. She knows how to get a man's attention, and keep it. She's confident and she always gets what she wants. She's everything Elena isn't.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asks quietly.

Katherine slips into the room gracefully and leans her back against the window frame, staring at 'Damon' with cool blue eyes. All traces of her earlier, harsh demeanor are now gone. She looks more vulnerable, somehow. "I wanted to see you," Katherine admits in an equally low voice, "I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Elena queries in a bored tone. What did she say earlier to Damon? An empty apology years too late, here it is! Is she supposed to accept it? Or should she tell Katherine to take her apology and stick it where the sun don't shine?

Katherine steps forward and takes one of Damon's hands, gently pleading, "Don't make me say it. It's so hard to talk about. Seeing you with that girl today made me realize how much I really have missed you. I made such a big mistake letting you go."

_That girl?_ Elena thinks, _She can't even remember my name? Or she's just acting like she doesn't because she feels threatened. _Elena swallows the bitter words she'd like to say to Katherine, and remembers the struggle Damon was having earlier. He was really pulled through a loop seeing Katherine after so long, and hearing her say that she wants him made something in him snap. He has been waiting years to be chosen first, and Elena has no right to take that from him. If that's the choice he wants to make, then so be it.

"It's okay," Elena says hollowly, "I forgive you. But -" She takes a sharp, shaky breath, "-I need a few days. I need time. Is that okay?"

"Yes, of course," Katherine breathes out a breath of relief at Damon's words. He was going to drop that Elena bitch like a rotten tomato. She had nothing to worry about now. By the end of the week, Damon would be hers again. All she had to do was give him a few days. "I completely understand. It's all so sudden, isn't it? But, I've been missing you for a long time. I wanted to come to you sooner, but I didn't think you'd want to see me."

_I didn't think he wanted to see you either, but I guess we were both wrong. _"I missed you too," Elena admits. She is holding herself together, but she is feeling claustrophobic with Katherine standing so close. Can't she leave already? Didn't she get what she wants? "I'll call you, okay?"

"Okay, don't take too long," Katherine teases, finally taking the hint and easing the window back open, "You know how patient I am." She blows an air-kiss before ducking out the window and disappearing down the tree into the night.

Elena flops down on the bed, her mood completely ruined. She picks up her phone and sends a text to Damon.

* * *

**Katherine came by. I told her you missed her and that you'd think about what she has to say. Let me know what you want me to do. -E**

Caroline frowns down at the text message she just received. She then realizes she's not even holding her own cell phone in her hands and starts to giggle. Drinking wine always makes her a little cuckoo. Reading the text once again, though, Caroline is still utterly confused. Why was Elena getting a text from Damon asking her what to do about Katherine and signed by..._Elena?_

"What...is...this?" Caroline asks slowly, flashing the screen over to Elena for her to read the text.

"She what?" Damon mumbles, his eyes widening at the words and darting over to Caroline's face. "Why did you open this?"

"I thought it was my phone," Caroline shrugs, "Sheesh, someone's an angry drunk tonight."

"I am not," Damon denies, "But why would she do that? Why does she always have to go and do stupid impulsive things and put me into these positions?"

"What are you talking about?" Bonnie wonders, also checking Caroline's face for signs that she may be figuring out Elena isn't exactly herself.

Forgetting his where-abouts, Damon tells Bonnie, "She told Katherine that I miss her!"

Caroline sits up and grabs Elena's arm, her mind making connections faster than she can comprehend, and she quickly tries to deny the obvious. "No. No, _Damon_ texted you, but he said...he said..." Caroline trails off, looking to Bonnie for help. "Why did he say that?"

Bonnie purses her lips together and then lets it all slip out, "Elena isn't really Elena. She's Damon. And Damon is Elena."

"Wait, so you're..." Caroline looks at Elena suspiciously, "_Damon?_" Damon nods slowly. Caroline's blue eyes widen and she suddenly slaps her friend across the face. "What the hell?! Go apologize to Elena right now, you ass!"

Damon stares at the blonde, shocked that she wasn't more concerned about the magic it took to swap Damon and Elena's bodies than him hurting her feelings. She's right, though. He is an ass. He should be apologizing.

Damon shakes his head and announces, "Okay, okay. I'm going."

* * *

**Review if you want Damon to admit his feelings for Elena (finally) ;)**

**Check out the prologue to my newest story: Holy Ground! It's a Klaroline love story(:  
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	17. Chapter 17 The Deciding Factor

**Hello lovely Readers:) Sorry about the long wait...**I had a bit of trouble getting this chapter finished. I think it's because we're getting so close to the end (3 more chapters left, I believe!) and I want everything to come together perfectly, so I really really hope you guys like this chapter! I will definitely have Chapter 18 up sooner than this one! Thanks so much for following this story! You guys are all awesome:)**  
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**To my amazing reviewers, who have the most wonderful things to say, and give me the boost I need to get these chapters written and posted: **arianaamanda, evansrachel2282, just your average freak, Payton, Guest, KellyJo93, kaybaby1127, arwen01, CharlSmith, Little Missy123, TheAbigailIvashkov, Delenalover, AlwaysDelena, EndlessDelenaObsessedDesire, DeeReadinQueen, kimboxox, Guest (2), vivianafrancesca, Nicole0203, VampAmbsxox, Guest (3), Skating-on-glass, DelenaVD, Guest (4), NotEnoughDamon, Lily Knighte, MadDam-de-Mort, .1272, LoveMeant2BE, Delena4eva, elena prada, & SushiBar! Thanks:) Your reviews really do help me update, and I smile at each and every one I receive:)

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 17. The Deciding Factor**

**.**

Damon climbs the tree between his and Elena's bedrooms when he gets home. He walked all the way from Caroline's because he didn't want to risk driving Elena's car while semi-intoxicated. He's sure she'll be proud of him when she hears that. Only thing is...he can't seem to get his bedroom window open so that he can tell her.

"What the hell?" Damon mutters under his breath as he peers inside the dark bedroom at the clock on the night stand. It's midnight, so he can't be too mad at Elena for being asleep right now. He can, however, be a little irritated with her for _locking_ the window. How was he supposed to get in during emergency situations, like this one, and talk to her?

Damon tries knocking quietly on the window to wake her up, but she doesn't stir. Her back is facing the window anyways, so for all he knows, she could be lying awake in bed simply pretending to be asleep so that he'll go away. _Is she that mad at me?_

Sighing, Damon gives up and retreats to Elena's bedroom, kicking off her sneakers before climbing into bed. He sends Elena quick text asking her why she locked him out, but when she doesn't reply right away, he falls asleep. It seems red wine makes him very, very sleepy.

In the morning, Damon hopes to wake up to a text from Elena, but he is disappointed to find she did not reply. He decides to send her another text, this one about something he's sure she'll have a reaction to: **Caroline found out about the switch last night. She knows I'm not you.**

Damon is shocked at her reply: **Thanks for telling me. Is that all?**

Damon frowns at the phone for a few seconds and then rolls his eyes in annoyance. He can't believe she's brushing him off, like she's not even going to talk to him at all. He debates climbing over to the window and pounding on it until she lets him in, but then settles on a phone call.

"Hello?" Elena answers, pretending not to notice that it is Damon calling her. She doesn't want to talk to him right now. She just wants to give him time to figure out what he wants. Why doesn't he get that?

"Why are you avoiding me?" Damon asks, getting straight to the point. "I need to talk to you."

"Well, I don't think that's a good idea," Elena insists, "I think you should just stay away from me for a while...until you know what you want with Katherine." She takes a deep breath after admitting that's why she's been avoiding him, although honestly, she thought it was obvious. Then she goes on quickly to say, "You didn't want to talk to me yesterday, when I _wanted_ to talk, so why do you want to now? I can't help you decide what to do about Katherine, Damon, that's _your _business. And I don't want to be involved any more than I already am. It's just -"

"I know," Damon cuts in, growling a little in his frustration at not getting a word in edge-wise. "I know, I'm a dick, I'm sorry. But I promise I won't talk about Katherine. I just want to talk to you." After a pause, he adds, "Actually, it might be a _little_ about Katherine, but mostly about you, I swear."

Elena sighs loudly, "Not interested."

Before Damon can protest and demand her to listen, he hears the distinct _click_ of the line disconnecting. She hung up on him. _What the fuck?! _Damon squeezes the phone tightly in his hand before throwing it across the room, huffing even more when it lands on the bed instead of smashing into the wall, like he'd wanted it to. _Girls are so fucking frustrating! They say guys don't listen? Yeah right! Girls are the ones who don't want to listen! They're too busy thinking they know everything, and that they're always right!_

Damon angrily stomps out of the room and downstairs to find something to eat for breakfast. On the kitchen table, is a note from Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert, informing Elena and Jeremy that they will be gone for the day and won't be home until late tonight. The note announces they left forty dollars on the table for food, but Damon doesn't see any money. He immediately assumes that Jeremy must have already read the note and snatched up the cash. _What a little weasel. _Damon could just make something for breakfast; there is plenty of food since Momma Gilbert went grocery shopping yesterday. But where would be the fun in that?

Damon heads towards Jeremy's bedroom, ready to demand twenty of the forty dollars left behind by 'their parents'. The closer he gets to Jeremy's room, though, the stronger he starts to smell a certain smell...a sort of spicy, smoky smell..._incense_. And the incense was covering up the strong scent of some very good marijuana. Damon finds himself grinning like the Cheshire Cat when he knocks on Jer's door. He listens while Jeremy fumbles around inside the room, drawers being opened, the window opened, a fan turned on, and then Jeremy finally opens.

"He-ey," Jeremy greets awkwardly, blocking off most of the room with his body, but it doesn't block out the definite smell of pot mixed with incense. Anna is giggling in the background, trying to look like she is watching TV, but she is clearly hiding a joint behind her back. "What's up? Mom and Dad aren't home, right?"

"No," Damon replies slowly, "They're not. But what are you two doing?" He pushes Jeremy out of the way and opens the door, a devilish smirk appearing on the face of Elena, causing Jeremy and Anna to exchange a nervous glance. "Smoking pot? In the house? Really?"

Jeremy immediately puts on the puppy dog face as he begs, "Please don't tell, Elena, I didn't think you'd know. I didn't even think you were home, actually. Your car isn't here...!"

"Well, I walked home last night," Damon explains, "And that's not the point. Point is, you shouldn't be smoking in the house. Give me that." He holds open his hand and waits for Jeremy to bring him the joint.

"What?" Jeremy asks, dumbfounded, "Are you serious? What are you gonna do with it?"

"I'm gonna get rid of it," Damon shrugs. "Come on. Hand it over."

Jeremy sighs before reluctantly taking the joint from Anna and placing it in the palm of Elena's hand. Damon smiles as his fingers close around it, and he suggests, "Spray some Febreze or something...that incense reeks. Later, little bro. No more pot-smoking in your bedroom. Do it outside, 'kay?"

"Okay Elena," Jeremy says impatiently, "Can you get out of my room now?"

"I'm going," Damon complies, heading back out the door which he entered, smirk sliding back into place. He shakes his head as he walks back to Elena's bedroom. _Baby Gilbert, _he thinks to himself, _you are badder than I thought you were..._

* * *

"Damon!" Giuseppe Salvatore's angry voice booms through the hallways, "Get down here!" Elena jumps up from the bed, where she had been wallowing, and wonders what she did wrong now...

Elena slowly walks downstairs, meeting Mr. Salvatore's not-so-happy glare. "Hey...Dad..." She greets slowly, a cautious smile on her face, "What's going on?"

"You tell _me_ what's going on," Mr. Salvatore demands, gesturing towards the front door, "What's _she_ doing here? I thought I said you can't have either of these girls over until you and Stefan work out an agreement."

"I didn't ask anyone to come over," Elena says, shrugging her shoulders. She can tell from the look on Giuseppe's face that he doesn't believe his son, though. Damon obviously doesn't tell the truth often. "I'll tell Elena she has to go home..."

"Not Elena," Mr. Salvatore sighs, "_Katherine!_"

"What?" Elena frowns. _Great, what's she doing here?! _"Well, I definitely didn't invite her over."

"Then tell her to get lost," Mr. Salvatore grumbles, "We don't need any more trouble in this house."

"Okay, I will," Elena agrees. "I'm sorry."

Elena inwardly groans at the thought of facing beautiful, manipulative Katherine once again, but she reluctantly walks to the front door, opens it, and steps outside. It's a beautifully clear fall day, a little crisp, but not too cold. She'd be happy, if she weren't so internally conflicted over her current situation. She wasn't expecting Katherine to come back so soon; she _did_ say she needed, well _Damon_ needed time to think, and Elena was pretty sure she even said a few days. Twelve hours is not two or three days! _Maybe she's stupid, _Elena thinks hopefully.

"Katherine...?" Elena greets questioningly, hoping Katherine will get the hint and realize she isn't welcome here.

"Hi," Katherine purrs, a seductive smile on her face as she tries to act innocent, "I know you said you needed time..." _Oh, good, she was listening._ "But I just thought, how are you going to know I've changed if you don't spend any time with me? I want to spend the day with you, you know, get to know each other again. Then you can decide who you want: me, or _Elena._" The way Katherine says her name makes Elena cringe. She is so focused on Katherine, she doesn't even realize Damon has also shown up, not until after Katherine has added, "And I won't tell her if you don't." She giggles.

"Too late, I already know what you're up to, _Katherine_," Damon announces coldly in Elena's voice, causing both Katherine and Elena to jump in surprise.

Katherine quickly regains composure, straightening her back and tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder as she reminds the brunette unkindly, "Well, I did warn you yesterday what would happen if you get in my way, Elena." Katherine narrows her ice blue eyes, causing her whole face to take on a harsh, ugly look that Damon never saw before.

"Yeah," Damon nods, "You did, but Damon isn't interested in you anymore." He doesn't miss the confused but semi-hopeful look that Elena gives him, probably wondering if his words have any truth to them.

"That's not what he said last night," Katherine says suggestively.

"Oh, he told me all about your visit last night," Damon returns, even more sure now that he has no interest in pursuing Katherine anymore. She's a snake. She is vicious and hateful and selfish, and she brings out the worst in him. Elena brings out the bests, and she makes him laugh, and he likes being with Elena more than he liked being with Katherine. And he and Elena haven't even slept together yet. That has to mean something. It has to mean something _big._ Ignoring Katherine's deathly cold glare, Damon turns to Elena, who is quietly watching the scene unfold, "Damon...will you come for a drive with me? Please, I want to talk..."

Elena nods, "Okay." She can't say no after seeing Damon completely shut down Katherine's advances. She's been shrugging him off all morning, and she did say she'd talk to him once he made a decision about Katherine..._Is this his decision? Does he really not want her? He wants me? Well...he didn't say that..._

"But, Damon," Katherine pouts, "I thought you were going to hang out with me?"

Elena barely glances her way, "Actually, I never agreed, so...sorry, Katherine, but I think I'll pass."

Damon smirks at Elena's reply, and Katherine's subsequent shocked and indignant expression. He could barely hold in a chuckle. Katherine was actually shocked into silence. That's a first. "You ready?" He asks Elena, who nods and follows him in the direction of her car. Luckily, Damon has the keys in hand, because he was planning on taking a drive to smoke the rest of Jeremy's confiscated joint, whether or not Elena agreed to join him.

"You had perfect timing," Elena comments, "For once."

"You just can't give me the compliment without the insult, can you?" Damon asks teasingly.

Elena blushes and lowers her gaze to her feet, "Sorry. That's not what I meant."

"Elena," Damon laughs, "I was kidding. _I'm sorry_." He insists, "I was the one who put you in this awkward position, and it wasn't right, I know. I'm sorry. I should never have let things get so crazy."

Elena isn't sure how to take his words. _What's crazy? Our feelings for each other or Katherine's shitty timing? His parents and the out of control fight with Stefan? The fight she and him had yesterday? What's crazy?! _"Okay...well, is that what you wanted to talk about?" She wonders why he's driving her out to what looks like the Falls, when all he wanted to do was apologize.

"That," Damon nods, "And other things." He gives his words a moment to sink in, and then completely changes the topic when he re-tells, "I caught Jeremy and Anna smoking weed in his room this morning."

"No way!" Elena gasps, effectively distracted for the time being from their previous topic. "Are you serious? Where were Mom and Dad?"

"Out for the day," Damon replies, "And yeah, I'm completely serious. I made him give me the joint."

"You did not," Elena giggles, the noise sounding funny coming from Damon's throat.

"I did," Damon insists, his smile growing, "Check the center console." He gestures with his eyes to the small storage space between their seats.

Elena eyes him carefully before opening the center console and gasping again, whispering and looking around in a guilty way as she accuses, "Are you crazy?! You can't drive around with a joint in my car! You're gonna get me arrested! You're gonna get _us_ arrested!"

"Relax, Elena, we're not going to get pulled over," Damon reassures her, "We're almost at the Falls, and after we smoke it, there won't be any evidence left in the car for the police to find." Damon smiles, confident he covered all her worries with his answers.

"Okay, you're out of your mind if you think I'm smoking that with you," Elena tells him seriously, "And, you aren't smoking it either."

"Oh yes I am," Damon argues, "And I bet you'll smoke it too, Elena. You should, at least. You seem pretty stressed, and our friend Mary Jane knows exactly how to make your stress go away."

"Wow, really?" Elena rolls her eyes. "That definitely changes my mind. I totally want to do it now," Elena states sarcastically.

Damon has turned onto the dirt road leading up to the Falls at this point, still pretty sure of himself that he can get Elena to loosen up and take a couple hits off the joint with him, but even if she doesn't she's still here with him. He has to fess up how he's feeling before she loses all hope in him and refuses to give him any more chances. He doesn't deserve any more, he knows that; he's fucked up Elena's life a lot since Ayana swapped their bodies, but now he knows that it was all for a reason, and he's willing to accept that. He and Elena are good for each other. He and Elena have chemistry. He knows he wouldn't have ever looked at Elena this way without the help of Ayana's twisted curse, but he doesn't know how to tell Elena that.

"Come on," Damon urges after he parks the car and turns off the engine, "Let's go sit on the rocks over there." Damon grabs the joint, even with Elena's warning glare, and a lighter that he nabbed from Jeremy, and climbs out of the car. Elena follows, and they both take a seat on the big rocks that overlook the waterfall.

Damon starts to light up the joint, and Elena comments, "I can't believe you stole that from Jeremy just to smoke it yourself."

"What?" Damon raises an eyebrow, "You think I'm the only one to do that? My dad found my stash once, back when I used to buy a quarter every weekend, and he took the whole thing. For the next week, I could smell the weed coming out of his and Isobel's room after they thought Stef and I were sleeping. I couldn't say anything to them, but come on, obviously they took it so they could have some fun."

"That's crazy," Elena says, fighting the urge to smile and losing because it's too funny to think of Giuseppe and Isobel smoking pot while their boys were in bed 'sleeping'.

Damon nods in confirmation as he takes a drag off the joint. It's been over a year since he's smoked weed, but like he told Elena, she's stressed and so is he and this is one way to loosen up for a little while. Jeremy just presented him with the perfect opportunity. He takes another drag, and then offers it to Elena. She gives him the stink eye for a moment, but eventually gives into temptation and takes the joint. "That's my girl," Damon laughs.

"What did I tell you about calling me that?" Elena reminds him grumpily. She eyes the burning joint in between her fingers like it might blow up any moment, and carefully puts it between her lips, pulling gently. She feels the burn of the smoke fill her lungs and she can't help but cough. She quickly passes the joint back to Damon. "Oh my gosh," She says in between coughs, "That is strong."

Damon laughs, but he nods, "It is. I'll have to thank Jeremy later for getting the good stuff."

"Don't you dare," Elena warns after she's caught her breath.

"Fine," Damon shrugs, "I won't. But you don't have to be such a goody-goody, Elena. Jeremy won't think any less of you just for smoking a little weed."

"It's irresponsible," Elena reminds him, even as she is accepting the joint again. She takes another puff, a little more worried this time, but she doesn't fill her lungs as much as the first time, and it is better now that she isn't coughing. _Not that it means I'll be doing this every day after school. I am so not becoming a pot head._

"You're _me_, Elena," Damon reminds her, "So don't worry about it so much. I've done way worse than take a few hits off a joint."

"Don't remind me," Elena says dryly. She knows that Damon's done worse. He's probably done worse on a daily basis. But she doesn't need a constant reminder of it. She shakes her head, her thoughts cloudy from the marijuana, which she passes back to Damon and indicates she wants no more of. "What am I doing here, Damon?" She sighs, "What was that back there? I don't understand you. One minute you don't know what you want, you don't want me around, now you're do? I mean, you're more indecisive than I ever was as a girl."

"That's not true." Damon is very doubtful of that. He can't possibly be as indecisive as the everyday, average teenage girl. _Am I? _"Sorry...I don't know why I've been so stupid. And yeah, I know that thinking about giving Katherine another chance was stupid. I don't know what I was thinking. I guess that's just what happens when Katherine comes around. I turn into an idiot, but it's not going to happen anymore, Elena."

"Why?" Elena asks, wanting him to be very clear with what he's saying, because there are many ways to interpret what he has said so far.

"Because," Damon meets Elena's inquiring gaze head on, "I realized that I don't want to be with someone like Katherine...not after knowing someone like you. I know this shit is all fucked up because you're me and I'm you, but...I don't even care. If it never happened, I would never have figured out how stupid I've been, how blind not to notice you. You've been right next door all this time, and I - I was the biggest jerk to you. You should hate me, but I don't want you to. I wish I could take back all the stupid, mean things that I did to you, Elena. I can't, but I can try and make it up to you. I'm so sorry."

Elena can't believe her ears. She never thought in a million years Damon Salvatore would give her a sincere apology for all the pranks and awful things he's said and did to her over the years, but she just got one. "You - you..." Elena shakes her head, a slow smile spreading across her face, "You said you're sorry."

"Is that so unbelievable?" Damon wonders.

"Kind of," Elena says, giggling again, but it doesn't really bother Damon so much anymore. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have called you stupid, even if that is what I thought. You wanted to talk to me, but I shut you out."

"I shouldn't have tried to talk to you about that," Damon accepts, "It was dumb. I guess that made me realize, too, that I was trying to find a way to keep you and Katherine, but I don't want that. I don't want Katherine at all. I want you, Elena."

Elena shakes her head, even though she knows his words are sincere, "But, you said you won't know how you feel until you're back in you're body. How do you know you won't change your mind once everything is back to normal? I don't -"

"I just know," Damon insists, his voice sure, "When you know, you know. Isn't that what they say? I _know_, Elena, and I've never felt that way before. Just take my word for it, okay? I won't hurt you anymore. I promise."

Elena stares at her face, knowing that it's Damon behind her brown eyes, feeling that his words are true and his heart is finally in the right place. She smiles slowly, her cheeks warming at the thought that Damon feels the same way about her as she feels about him. "Okay," She accepts his apology and his promise. She leans closer to him, and they kiss, and for once she doesn't feel weird about the fact that she's kissing her own lips. They're going to be put back in their bodies soon, Elena just knows it. She can _feel _something big is about to happen. It's unexplainable, but Elena can just feel it in her bones. She and Damon will be returned to their proper places...and all will be right.

"Did you know about the semi-formal on Friday?" Damon asks, remembering Bonnie and Caroline's conversation with him about the dance.

"Yeah," Elena nods, "What about it?"

"Well," Damon suggests, "I was thinking we should go together. You know, it makes sense, anyways, and..."

"Yes," Elena cuts him off, "Of course I want to go with you."

Damon lets out a small sigh of relief and smiles happily at Elena. Things worked out better than he hoped. He didn't think he'd feel so much better after fixing things with Elena, but that was the final clue that confessing his feelings was the right thing to do. He does like Elena, and there's no point in denying it anymore. He wants Elena Gilbert, may even be falling in love with Elena Gilbert, and he couldn't ask for more.

_Well...maybe just my body back. That would make everything perfect._

* * *

Monday morning, Elena and Damon wake up for the first time since the switch feeling happy and confident in their skin. Sure, they hadn't switched back overnight, but they both had a tingling sensation it was going to happen very, very soon...

Or maybe that was a sense of foreboding that shit was about to hit the fan.

No, Katherine hadn't show up again and slept with somebody _else._ And Matt hasn't made a surprise visit from wherever the hell it is he moved to. But two phone calls are made to the Gilbert and Salvatore residences at exactly 7AM.

One, for Damon from Alaric, announcing quite enthusiastically, "Dude, we just booked the school dance on Friday! The Originals is playing from seven-thirty until nine! So get ready to practice all week, okay?" Elena agrees numbly, her heart racing rapidly in her chest. How was she going to pull off playing with The Originals for an hour and a half set?! She only knows two songs. It's impossible, completely impossible!

The other phone call, for Elena, is from the student placement director at Yale University, "Hello, Elena, I was hoping we could move up your interview to this Friday, at four-thirty? I had to switch some interviews around, and this is the only other time available. If you can't attend, I'm sorry, but I'll have to give your interview slot to someone else..."

"This Friday?" Damon says, swallowing the thick feeling of nervousness gathering in his throat, "Four-thirty? Uh, no, that's fine, perfect, even. I'll definitely be there."

"Great!" Both Ric and the Yale Director reply.

_Yeah..._Elena and Damon think..._It's just great!_

* * *

**Please Review! I'll give you a hint: Next chapter just may be the one where they switch back...Let me know if there is anything you'd like to see happen between Delena before the end of the story, and I will try and make it happen!:) Expect an update before Wednesday.**_  
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**Check out my newest story, Holy Ground, if you have time:) It's a Klaroline story, I just posted Chapter 1 at the beginning of the week.  
**

**Thanks so much! You guys are the best:)  
**

**-BecomingScarlett  
**


	18. Chapter 18 Breaking Through to the Other

**Note From BecomingScarlett: I honestly can't apologize enough for seriously longggg absense from this story and writing in general. It was a combination of stressful/uninspirational things happening in my life and there's not really a great excuse, but I hope you guys will forgive me anyways. I finally have found inspiration for this story again, my hatred for Elena in Season 4 has subsided since the season ended a few months ago now...hopefully next season she will not make me want to rip her head off quite so much...Here is the long-awaited Chapter 18, I hope it meets expectations. There are 2 more chapters left, I believe, and I promise to have them up as soon as I finish them:)**

**-BecomingScarlett**

**2nd Note: Thank you soo much to everyone who reviewed, I wish I could thank you all individually, but I'm trying to get this posted since you have all been waiting so long already. I really appreciate every single one of you who have reviewed and who follow/favorite this story. I probably would not have continued at all if it weren't for all of your support and kind words:)**

**DISCLAIM: I don't own It's A Boy Girl Thing, the movie, or Vampire Diaries, the tv series or book series. That is all.**

* * *

**It's A Boy Girl Thing**

**Ch 18. Breaking Through to the Other Side**

**.**

"What are we going to do?" Damon groans, banging his head against the steering wheel of Elena's car.

"I don't know," Elena replies from the passenger seat. Damon bangs his head again, and she requests, "Can you please stop doing that? You're going to leave a red mark on the middle of my forehead and I'm going to look like an idiot for all of first period."

"Sorry," Damon grumbles. A moment later, he groans again, "Ugh! It's never going to work. It's just - it's never going to work."

"Way to stay positive, Mr. _Debbie Downer_," Elena teases, although she's not feeling so great herself. Since the phone call from Ric this morning, Elena has been trying to figure out how she'll be able to learn five more songs by Friday, and thinking that it's a pretty impossible task. She was nervous to tell Damon, but now that she knows about the meeting with Admissions at Yale on Friday, she's a complete wreck. She's just keeping it inside a little better than Damon is. "We just have to..." She falters before picking back up where she left off, "have to spend every free moment practicing and studying. We can do this, Damon. We just have to figure it out together."

"Elena," Damon says mockingly, "Sometimes _studying _doesn't solve everything. Some things just can't be learned in a week. I'm not going to let you perform with my band and make me look like a complete idiot in front of the whole school if you can't remember the songs."

"Thanks Damon," Elena returns sarcastically, "Because it's really easy for me to put all my trust in _you _to take my Yale interview seriously. Not like it is important to me or anything. Not like I really wanted to go to college..." Elena stares out the window of her car, watching the students move through the parking lot towards the school. Class is due to begin in less than five minutes, but neither Damon or Elena have made a move to get out of the car. Both are too shaken up from the phone calls they received this morning.

"Even if I do mess up things for you at Yale," Damon points out, "You'll still get accepted at fifty other schools. You could take your pick. Me? Well, I'd be lucky to get in at the local community college; that's how bad my grades are. This band is my only plan for the future."

"So because you don't give a damn about school you're going to mess up my chances at getting in to my dream college?" Elena accuses. "That's real mature, Damon. I thought you _cared _about me? Is this how you treat someone you care about?" Elena angrily opens the car door and climbs out, stalking away from the vehicle while ignoring Damon's calls for her to wait and come back. She doesn't care what he has to say anymore. Obviously he doesn't care about her or her future or her Yale interview. He just cares about himself and The Originals. All that talk of wanting Elena but absolutely no proof in his actions.

Damon shakes his head at his own retreating backside, wondering how Elena expects them to figure this shit out if she's walking away from him. He knows he's not exactly the most positive person under pressure, but he's doing the best he can! This is a pretty important moment for him, booking a gig at his high school's dance during his senior year, and he doesn't even get to experience it first-hand. The worst part is that Elena says with her interview at Yale being at 4:30 in the afternoon on Friday, he might not even make it back in time to see The Originals performance. It isn't fair. It is _his _big moment and he should be there! Ayana must really be getting a kick out of watching Damon and Elena suffer...

After getting in one more head-bang to the steering wheel of Elena's car, Damon decides to get to class. His brain might be elsewhere, but he promised Elena he'd physically show up to every one of her classes to keep up her attendance record. He wonders how he can possible soak up enough smarts to pass for Elena Gilbert at a Yale Early-Admissions Interview. He doesn't blame Elena at all for worrying over her fate at Yale; he might make her look like the biggest joke to ever step foot in the University.

* * *

At the end of the day, before Elena gets into Klaus' car for a ride home, Damon shoves a whole stack of freshly printed papers into her face. "Here," He says in a bossy tone, "I've been in the library the past hour looking up sample interview questions. So, fill them out and then give them back to me and I'll...memorize what I can before Friday." He shrugs Elena's tiny-framed shoulders nervously, hoping Elena can see he really has been trying to prove himself.

Elena blinks a few times in surprise. "You...what?" She flips through the twenty or so pages of college interview information. It looks like something her mom would have given her, had Damon bothered to mention the interview being moved to this Friday to her. "I can't believe you..." She cuts herself off with a shake of her head before smiling. "Thank you, Damon," She says quiet enough for only him to hear.

Damon nods, "Don't mention it."

"Are you lovebirds finished yet?" Klaus calls impatiently from the front seat, "In case you've forgotten, Damon, we do have a performance to practice for."

"I didn't forget, shithead," Elena scoffs, "I'm ready." To Damon, she suggests lightly, "I'll stop over later and we can...study?"

"Sounds like a plan," Damon agrees. He realizes the task is near-impossible, but he and Elena have been through a few impossible situations the past couple weeks and survived; what's one more? Maybe the interview with Yale will go smoothly and Elena will be accepted on the spot. Maybe The Originals will rock the dance so hard they get discovered next week and make it big like Green Day or Avenged Sevenfold. Maybe they'll both crash and burn, but they'll never know if they don't give it a shot.

Elena climbs in the passenger seat of Klaus' car, and he speeds off to Alaric's place to practice until Ric has to leave for work. Elena is so nervous and preoccupied with thoughts of the Yale interview that she forgets nearly everything Damon taught her, and her nifty trick she had picked up on. Klaus and Ric get frustrated with their band-mate pretty quick, and decide to call it quits early. Elena apologizes, but Ric suggests instead of apologizing that Damon get his ass home and figure his shit out. Elena promises she'll be better tomorrow. She has to be better tomorrow. She can't start sucking now that Damon is putting in so much effort to prepare for her Yale interview.

"What was up with you tonight?" Klaus asks on the drive back to Damon's house. "You sucked. You never suck. Your mind was somewhere else. Ever since you've been hanging around with Elena, you've been acting like you don't care about the band anymore."

"No, no I haven't," Elena insists, "Klaus, seriously, that's not true at all. I don't know what's wrong with me today. I'm just having an off-day. It won't happen again. I swear."

"Maybe you think you're better than us now that someone like Elena Gilbert is interested in you," Klaus suggests with a shrug, putting on a nonchalant air to his persona, despite the fact that Elena can see right through it. He's jealous and worried that Damon being with Elena is going to affect their relationship and jeopardize their planned-out future with The Originals.

"Dude, shut the fuck up," Elena orders in a very Damon-like tone, "That's not going to happen. This band is my life. I'm just dealing with some shit right now, and I need you to cut me some slack."

"Whatever you say, Damon," Klaus sighs. "Whatever you say."

Elena is grateful they've arrived to the Salvatore residence, and she thanks Klaus for the ride as she grabs Damon's guitar from the backseat. "See ya later, dude. Tomorrow I'll be back to rippin' it, like I always do."

"Yep," Klaus nods shortly. "Later." Klaus waves without taking his eyes off the road, and as soon as Damon shuts the door, he takes off at his usual speed down the street.

Elena winces internally and makes a promise to herself that she is going to practice all night if she has to. She doesn't like Klaus or Ric being disappointed in Damon, especially because it's all her fault. She also doesn't like sucking at things she should be good at, and since she's Damon, she should be awesome at guitar, not horrible and sucky! She'll listen to The Originals EP album on repeat all night, if she has to. She _will _get those songs down.

After safely returning Damon's guitar to his room, Elena climbs out the window to the tree between her and Damon's bedrooms, and swings over to her house. She taps on the window twice as a warning, before sliding it open and slipping inside. Damon, wearing Elena's face, is laying on his stomach on her bed and staring down at a notebook while chewing on the end of a pen. He looks up with big brown eyes at Elena's arrival and smiles. Elena sits down with a sigh next to Damon and peers over his shoulder to see what he's writing.

"You're doing homework?" Elena asks in disbelief.

"I'm doing homework," Damon repeats.

"I am both shocked and proud," Elena teases. She looks over some of the answers to the math problems Damon has been filling in and notes that most of them are incorrect. She sighs, but doesn't have the heart to tell him his hard work was kind of for nothing. At least Mr. Bradford only checks homework for being complete not correct. "Do you think there's even the slightest chance in Hell we'll be able to pull this off?"

"I thought you were the optimistic one in this relationship?" Damon asks with one eyebrow quirked up higher than the other.

"Since when are we in a relationship?" Elena counters with an amused expression.

Damon's eyes widen slightly when he realizes what he said, and he quickly corrects, "Relationship? No, I - I didn't mean _relationship _relationship. I just meant, like, you know..."

Elena cracks up at his nervous reaction. "Damon, I'm just kidding. I knew what you meant. And I am normally pretty optimistic, but this is not just one big problem, but two. I don't want to mess -"

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Elena?"

Mrs. Gilbert heard voices coming from her daughter's bedroom, specifically her daughter and a _male_, so she obviously can't go to bed without investigating the situation.

"Yeah?" Damon calls back with Elena's voice.

"Can I come in?" Mrs. Gilbert requests, intending on entering the room whether or not she's given permission.

Damon looks to Elena, who nods encouragingly, and answers, "Sure."

Miranda Gilbert turns the knob and pushes the door open. When she sees Damon Salvatore sitting on Elena's bed, she almost doesn't believe her eyes. Elena and Damon together in the same room? It is impossible, but clearly not since there they are _together, in the same room. _Elena can't stand Damon Salvatore, though; it just doesn't compute.

"I...I didn't realize you had company, Elena," Miranda initially stutters over her words, but she pulls herself together by the end and manages a smile for their guest, "Hello, Damon. I haven't seen you in so long, I almost didn't recognize you."

Elena knows that isn't the case, her mother just doesn't like Damon, but she is glad her mom is making an effort to be polite. "Hi, Mrs. Gilbert," Elena greets, feeling silly talking to her mom that way, "How are you?"

"Fine, thanks," Miranda replies. She looks to her daughter and reminds her pointedly, "You know how I feel about closed-doors, Elena. I'm going to bed soon, so..."

Damon is too slow to catch on to what Miranda is suggesting, so Elena jumps in with a response, "I'm leaving in a few minutes, Mrs. Gilbert. Elena offered to help me with my math homework, because I _really _suck at math." She laughs because it's true, Damon is awful at math.

"All right then," Miranda reluctantly agrees, unable to see a reason to refuse, "Fifteen more minutes."

"Okay Mom," Damon says, shooing Miranda from the room, "Goodnight." Miranda leaves, but she also leaves the door open on her way out. When he's sure she's out of ear shot, he whispers to Elena, "Jeez, she is the most paranoid woman in the world."

"Well, what do you expect?" Elena points out, "It's _you _and _me _alone in my room together, with the door closed. You are the last boy my mom would expect to find in my room, and with your reputation..."

"What reputation?" Damon wants to know, "You've talked to your mom about me? Why would you tell her things like that?"

"Are you kidding?" Elena tries to keep her voice down, because this conversation would set off some alarms to anyone eavesdropping outside the doorway, "You tortured me for years, of course I told my mom. You used to drop water balloons on me from your bedroom windows. You almost ran my cat over with your dirt bike when we were fourteen. You were like the neighbor boy from Hell up until the switch happened."

"Okay, those kinds of things make sense to tell your mom about," Damon affirms, "But you were talking about my reputation with other girls. What did you tell your mom, that I'm some kind of player or something?"

"Would you be that surprised if I did?" Elena wonders, hoping this doesn't turn into another argument between the two of them. They've got less than four days to prepare for both the dance and the Yale interview and they can't afford to waste time fighting. "I never expected any of this to happen, Damon. Never in a million years, and neither did you. We hated each other. You and Klaus referred to me as the 'nameless, uptight virgin' for who knows how long, and you don't see me getting all worked up about it, do you?"

"You're right," Damon sighs when he realizes how hypocritical he's being, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Elena says, smiling bitterly, "And I know how you feel." Even though they've forgiven each other for what was said in the past, it is harder to forget. All the awful things they've said and done, how long the bitter feelings towards each other lasted, it will take time to forget, but they've come a long way in a short period of time so it can happen. If they can forgive, they can forget. "I should go. Mom won't go to bed until she knows there's no chance of any sex occurring in the house."

Damon laughs, "That's too bad. See you tomorrow then. Don't forget to look at those questions I printed off the internet."

"I won't," Elena promises as she heads for the door. "Goodnight."

"'Night."

* * *

For the next three days, Elena and Damon focus all of their time and energy on preparing for Friday. Damon has never studied harder for anything in his life, and Elena is really surprised and happy to see such a change in him. He has been patient and non-judgmental and one-hundred percent focused on the end goal. Elena actually feels like she has to step-up her game to be on Damon's level, that is how amazing he's been after that first meltdown on Monday. Elena has improved over the week as well; she can play every song on The Originals' set list for Friday night and is now working on memorizing lyrics, since Damon conveniently forgot to mention he sings back-up for Klaus. That's one more thing to worry about, but Elena is trying to take everything one step at a time.

Thursday evening, after dinner, Damon is waiting for Elena to finish with band practice so she can come over and do a practice interview with him. This is the last night for them to really make sure Damon knows how to act and what to say for the interview with the Yale Admissions Director. Tomorrow, right after school, Grayson Gilbert is driving his daughter to the airport in Charlottesville, where they'll both fly to New Haven, Connecticut for the interview at Yale University. After the interview, they'll catch a flight back to Virginia, where Damon will hopefully make it back to the Gilbert household in time to change into Elena's dress for the semi-formal and get to the school to catch some of The Originals' performance. Elena wishes she could have gone to Connecticut with her dad, to actually see the Yale campus in person for the first time, but it is one thing that is impossible for her to do on Friday.

Damon is sitting in Elena's room going over her answers for probably the hundredth time this week when Mrs. Gilbert knocks on the semi-closed bedroom door and sticks her head inside asking to talk. Damon invites her in, since he doesn't really have much of a choice. Miranda settles on the edge of Elena's bed and turns to face her daughter.

"Are you ready for tomorrow, Elena?" Miranda wonders, noticing how tense her teenage daughter looks. "Are you nervous?"

Damon shrugs, "I...think so, yeah. I mean, I'm a little nervous, but I think I'm ready."

"You'll do wonderfully, I'm sure," Miranda assures her, "You're a smart girl, and you have an impressive resume, so I don't see any reason for them not to love you up there in Connecticut."

"Thanks Mom," Damon smiles.

"So..." Miranda had other reasons for checking in on Elena this evening, but she realizes it might be a tender topic to discuss. "When did you start...spending time with Damon?"

Damon notices she says his name in a disapproving way, and he wonders why she's asking. "I don't know. The beginning of the month? It's not really a big deal, Mom. We just study, that's all."

"You _study _with Damon Salvatore?" Miranda repeats disbelievingly. "I don't understand, honey. I thought you hated him? Why would you want to spend time with someone who isn't deserving of it?"

"Yes, we study," Damon replies defensively, "And people change. People aren't always who they appear to be. Maybe I didn't know Damon as well as I thought I did. I don't know, but I know him now."

"Elena, you're a smart girl, don't be stupid," Miranda chastises. "You and I both know exactly the kind of boy Damon Salvatore is and he's only after one thing from a girl like you. This is your senior year, and you don't need any distractions. What happens if you decide you're in love with this boy and then he breaks your heart? What happens to Yale then, and your future, all of our plans for you? Don't throw away your future for Damon, Elena; he's not worth it."

Damon takes the insult like a slap to the face. Elena's mom thinks so little of him that he's not even worth her time...is he really that bad? He has realized just how amazing and hard-working and brilliant Elena is, though. What if he's not actually worth her time? What if he's not good enough for her, and he never will be? What made him believe he was actually good enough for Elena Gilbert in the first place? Because they had some stupid curse cast upon them that forced them to start working together? What part about that made him think he's somehow worthy of Elena's heart? None of it.

"Is that all?" Damon asks, devoid of any emotion. "Because I have some things to finish going over before bed..."

Miranda stands and walks a few feet towards the door before she turns back to say, "I only want the best for you, Elena. I love you, you know."

"I know," Is all Damon can say in return.

When Elena shows up twenty minutes later, Damon decides not to mention the conversation he had with her mom. They had a similar conversation on Monday, and they both apologized for what they've said in the past about each other. But Damon took away something different from the conversation with Miranda; he didn't disagree that Elena was too good for him. Elena _is _too good for him, and that's why he's going to do anything in his power to ensure she gets into Yale like she's been dreaming about for years. Elena deserves to get everything she's been working so hard for.

"Hey, what's up?" Elena greets as she plops down on the bed. "I think you've been in this exact spot every day this week. Is all the studying making your brain ache yet?" She giggles teasingly, still something Damon can't get over hearing coming out of his own mouth. "Do you need glasses from all the reading?"

"No," Damon answers seriously, "But I do need you to tell me again why Yale is your number one choice out of all the other colleges in America..."

"I've told you why fifty times," Elena reminds with a smirk, "I think you've got the answer written down right there," She points to the page next to Damon's left elbow. "Maybe you need a break. You're studying too hard."

"No, I'm not," Damon insists, "I don't need a break. I need to memorize these answers. Every time I think I have it all memorized, my mind completely blanks out. What do I do if that happens during your interview?"

"You're not going to freeze up," Elena reassures him, putting her hand on his arm and turning him to face her, "Damon, relax. You can do this. I trust you."

Staring into blue eyes that reflect Elena's face, Damon feels a surge of that confidence pass from Elena to himself. _She's right, we can do this. _

"OK," Damon nods slowly, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips, "You're right. I can do this."

"Yes," Elena nods too, confirming both her words and his. "Now, let's quickly go over the agenda for tomorrow. I packed your interview outfit in my travel bag so you can bring it on the flight with you, and then change at the airport before leaving for Yale. Don't forget, because you really can't wear jeans and a T-shirt -"

"I know, Elena," Damon says with a roll of his eyes. Does she really think he's that stupid that he'd forget to change?

"Well, I'm just going over all the details," Elena reminds, sounding like her usual detail-oriented self. "So, your flight leaves at 2:50, and it's due to arrive right at 4PM. The interview starts at 4:30, so please don't be late. The interview should take no longer than thirty minutes, but Dad scheduled your flight home for 6 just in case. You should land in Charlottesville at around 7:15, and if you hurry home and change, you can probably get to the dance a little after 8." She smiles, "See? You'll still get to see the band play. Everything will work out just fine."

* * *

_'Everything will work out just fine,' my ass! She should never have said that. She jinxed us! _Damon's afternoon didn't go at all like Elena planned for it to. Once arriving at Yale, his interview was pushed back to 5 o'clock, and the Admissions' Director, Tatia Petrova, was so hard to read Damon has no idea if he did well or not. It sucks that he doesn't have a clear, positive answer to give to Elena when and if they ever get back to Mystic Falls...Grayson and Damon missed their 6 o'clock flight from New Haven to Charlottesville, and had to wait for the 7PM flight, and now Damon doesn't know if he'll even make it to the dance to see The Originals perform. When there is an accident on the highway that adds another twenty minute delay to their trip home, Damon is starting to feel a splitting headache coming on. _I promised Elena I would be there, I need to be there._

"Dad, drop me off at the school, okay?" Damon asks when they finally pull off the highway exit for Mystic Falls.

"I thought you wanted to go home first to change?" Grayson asks in confusion.

Damon looks down at the gray business jacket, white button-up shirt, and black knee-length skirt that he wore for Elena's Yale interview and then back over to Mr. Gilbert. "I don't have time. It's fine, I just need to get to the school."

"OK, if you say so." Grayson decides not to argue with Elena since he never wins arguments with his wife, and it probably goes the same for his daughter too.

At the school, Elena is watching the big clock on the wall of the gym, which is the location of most of their school dances, and starting to worry for Damon. _What if he doesn't make it in time? _It is ten of 9, and Klaus is announcing The Originals only have time to play two more songs. _This is it, two songs left, and Damon was supposed to be here by now! _Elena takes a sip of water from the bottle on top of Damon's guitar amp and scans the crowd, but she doesn't see herself anywhere. She's disappointed, but only because this is the moment Damon has been waiting for since he and Ric and Klaus formed The Originals, and he's missing it. The whole school is loving the music, everyone is dancing and having a good time, and the one person who should be here to see it...isn't here. Elena can see why Damon likes to perform; it's a rush, a one-of-a-kind experience. _The biggest performance of his life and I made him miss out on it for an early-admissions interview at a college he'd never in his life get into. He's going to be so disappointed._

During the middle of the second to last song, 'We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes', Elena feels distracted as a sharp, persistent headache appears suddenly. She is nearly unable to finish playing the song, it is so powerful, but she keeps her mind focused on the guitar rhythm and the words to the song. When the song ends, she steps back from the microphone and sighs in relief. For some reason, her eyes are pulled to the audience of her classmates again, and she finally sees the face she's been looking for in the crowd all night.

Damon arrives to the school's gym in time to catch the tail end of one of his favorite songs by The Originals, and he squeezes through his fellow students to get a better view of the stage. A few people call out Elena's name, but Damon is only looking for one person. The headache nagging him since the car ride from the airport suddenly subsides when he sees Elena, with his body, on stage with Klaus and Ric. They wrap up the song, Elena steps away from the mic, and then like she feels his eyes on her she looks right at him.

The moment their eyes meet, brown to blue, the entire room is filled with magic tension as the curse Ayana bound to Damon and Elena's souls is fighting to break free. Elena's eyes light up with joy at seeing Damon has arrived, and when she cocks her head to the side and sends him a look, he can almost hear her asking him, 'Well? How did it go?' Damon feels he did the best he possible could have, and Elena knows that, so he smiles and sends her a thumbs-up sign. Elena's smile expands and she motions for Damon to take a look around, which he does and he sees what a hit The Originals have been for the Forks High Semi-Formal. Damon is proud of Elena, because she might be giving him all the credit for the music and the band, but it is her up on stage right now, and she never thought she could do that, just like he never thought he could successfully complete a college interview, let alone at a university like Yale. Against all odds, they both did something amazing today, something they never would have done if it weren't for the curse of Ayana.

In the Spirit Realm, where Ayana is always watching, she sees the exchange between Damon and Elena, and she..._agrees._ Damon and Elena have truly proved themselves, not just that they can work together to achieve a mutual goal, but that they care enough about the other person to want the best for their future. Elena and Damon _are_ soul-mates, they are destined to be together, and they will make each other happy, but Ayana's curse has done all it can for them. Now, it is up to these two teenagers to figure out their destiny and fight for it, because life is not easy, even for souls destined to be together. Ayana thinks she might keep an eye on them a while longer, even after the curse is broken...just to see how things are going with her two favorite jinxes.

Back at Mystic Falls High, Bonnie Bennett notices something strange happening in the gym during the semi-formal, but no one else seems to see it except for her. An indescribable light begins to form around Damon's body up on stage and...Elena's body down in the crowd. Bonnie figures out that the curse must be breaking when a tornado of glowing, glittery light flows around Damon and Elena, swirling faster and faster until the paths are as one. A brilliant light erupts and Bonnie shields her eyes. When it passes, there is no sign of the light that once filled the room.

Elena gasps when she realizes the pull she was feeling towards Damon wasn't imaginary, and she really is back inside her body. At the same time, Damon comes to notice he is on stage, in his natural form, his guitar in his hands. Initially, it is disorienting to go from one place to another so fast without explanation, but once the shock wears off the glee sets in. Elena looks down to her toes and wiggles them to make sure she is really in control, and then she moves on to check her legs and her arms and her face and head. She giggles in excitement before clapping a hand over her mouth and looking around to make sure no one noticed her laughing at nothing. Damon also does a body-check, making sure all parts are where they should be; they are. Then he locates Elena in the crowd, and when he sees her it is almost like he's seeing her for the first time, because even though he saw her daily before the switch happened, he's never looked at her like this before; he sees her through new eyes, and she is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.

Elena blushes under Damon's gaze now that he has his intense blue stare back, because she knows he is studying her the same way she was studying him. It feels strange to be back, and she's nervous, for some reason, but also excited. This is what they've both been waiting for since Ayana cursed them; to be returned to their own bodies. Now, Elena has one thing in mind, the one thing she promised herself she would do first when she got her body back...

_I'm going to kiss Damon, and I honestly don't give a shit who's watching..._She has to know if it feels like it did before, and if it does, then what does that mean? There's only one way to find out.

* * *

**A/N: That's it, folks! They're back in they're own bodies again! Please let me know what you think!:) **

**Check out my Twilight Embry/OC story, I just updated this week & I'm updating again tonight. Give it a chance, it's really good. Pleaaase:P**


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